My four antidotes to Grinching

This holiday season

“It came without ribbons. It came without tags.” – How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Dr. Seuss

Planning can be overwhelming, even for hyper-organizers like me. It can cloud what might otherwise be some of our happiest memories. “What are you most looking forward to about your wedding?” David has often asked friends in the planning stage. The most common response? “For it to be over!” I’ve found myself thinking the same thing about this holiday season. I’ve been so overwhelmed by some things that I’ve found myself wanting to do away with everything. I’ve started to call this Grinching.

In the classic Dr. Seuss poem, penned just after the holidays in a year when Dr. Seuss’s wife was suffering from ongoing medical problems, the Grinch is so dismayed with the commercialization of Christmas that he decides to ruin it for the people of Whoville. Disguised as Santa, he sneaks down chimneys and steals gifts and trees. He is so upset by aspects of Christmas that he tries to ruin all of it.

Photo by Juliane Liebermann on Unsplash

I’ve been Grinching all week. I came home from a week of work travel feeling as behind on the holidays as ever. The holiday cards that I like to send out in early December are sitting unaddressed on the counter. Half the lights on the Christmas tree are out. Every day, I think of another present I should have already purchased for someone but haven’t. Worse, I haven’t been completing tasks because I keep getting distracted by the next one I almost forgot.

This morning, antsy for a state change, I decided to refresh myself on the classic story. I knew it ended well, but I’d forgotten how. As it turns out, on Christmas Day, the Grinch hears the Whos singing a beautiful song—undeterred by their missing gifts—and the Grinch’s too-small heart grows three sizes. It turns out you can’t steal Christmas.

What I’m really upset about, I realized, isn’t everything I have to do. It’s a fear that everything I have to do will mean that I get to January having missed the heart-growing beauty of my favorite season.

Here are four things I’m trying this week to shift from getting-it-over-with to something more:

1. Let this year be different

I’ve been telling the routine-lover in me that it’s okay for this year to be different. Look what happened to the Grinch by mixing things up! More drama meant more to learn. Our holiday cards are going to be later this year, and they were a rush job. As I’ve written about before, our holiday celebrations will be different this year too. By whispering “let this year be different” like a mantra, I’m telling myself that change is okay.

2. Take something off the list

No outdoor lights, we decided this year. Energy savings all around.

3. Give what feels exciting

Yes, I am a minimalist who largely agrees with Dr. Seuss on the commercialization of the holidays. But as a kid, when I distributed gifts at our family gathering (wearing the official Santa hat), I’d always save my handmade gifts for last because I was so excited to give them. This is my litmus test for gifts this year: Do I feel so good about this gift that I want to save it for last?

4. Let connection be the barometer

The real reason I love this time of year is because of the connections. Festive evenings with colleagues and book club and mom group. Rare, full days with family, experiencing the holidays through a toddler’s eyes. Long evenings with the dearest of friends at a woodsy cabin. Like the Grinch eventually realizes before celebrating with the Whos, if these connections happen, the holidays, perhaps, will mean a little bit more.