Christmas Depression

Snake Oil Cures are Poison

I saw the strangest thing this morning. There’s actually someone online who sells video tapes and books to people suffering from Christmas depression. For only three payments of $33.30 a month, you are ‘guaranteed’ to be healed.

I wish I could put a note on this guy’s ad:

“I can tell you the secret to reducing Christmas depression and won’t cost you a dime.”

Christmas depression can be caused by any number of things: you recently lost someone close to you; your personal or work life isn’t going well; or you long for a simpler more loving time and you remember Christmas was that simpler more loving time … when you were a child.

But it’s not that way anymore.

Our Christmases now can never compare with those from childhood. Christmas was an unique time, but childhood comes “One to a customer”—if that’s what some are hoping to recapture, it’s no wonder they’re depressed.

As children, we believed there was a bearded man in a fluffy red suit who had elves building toys in a place called “The North Pole”. He flew in a sleigh to visit us on Christmas Eve and he came, of all places, down our chimney.

There were special songs we sang; cookies we helped Grandma bake and decorate and we shared them with neighbors, family and friends; we made promises to Mommy and Daddy to be good and we wrote letters to Santa asking for our deepest desires.

We watched Christmas TV specials; helped decorate a tree; wrapped our presents for Mommy and Daddy; hung our stockings; left cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer and as we crossed each day off the calendar, our anticipation continued to grow.

As adults, what we remember is the magic of Christmas. Everything that surrounded it was surreal back then. Christmas reminds us of what we have lost and we know we can’t go back and recapture it.

When someone can’t accept that, depression sets in.

At our age, there’s something that will help find the Christmas spirit again and it sure won’t cost three payments of $33.30 …

BE with children! Get caught up in their excitement, feel the magic, but now look at Christmas through their eyes.

Whether they’re at home, in the children’s ward of a hospital, the children’s reading room at the library, or in a homeless shelter …

… I guarantee it’ll go a long way toward chasing the blues away.

Poet/Writer/Author of 5 books.
Quora Top Writer 2018.
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