Boxing Day (aka The Second Day of Christmas)
Guess what- the second day of Christmas isn’t as much fun as the first (did you know that?) In our case, it really kind of, well… sucked. First of all, I had to work. I have a HUGE grievance with the fact that Christmas fell on a Wednesday this year. Wednesday is already my day off! This meant I worked on Christmas Eve (but only till noon) and Boxing Day. Grr. Second- my son is sick. I swear, he gets sick almost every Christmas. I guess it’s the excitement and stress of ending his semester, combined with travel. It wasn’t as bad as two years ago, when we both had Covid and he couldn’t even sit at the table for Christmas dinner, but he’s not feeling great. The day started early for me, with a five mile run. Then I went to work, where we all agreed that Christmas was great, we wished we didn’t have to work today, but there was definitely a feeling of “we’re all in this together.” It wasn’t a bad day at all. I returned home in good spirits… until I got in the door. My son was lying on the couch with a fever. My husband moaned that he was suffering from post-Christmas depression, and my daughter decided to go off on an angry tirade about her Christmas gifts. WHY did I get her a turquoise blanket instead of pink? Why didn’t she get any plushies? The clothes- which by the way I bought straight from the links she sent me- are ugly and need to be returned. We’ve been down this road before. I’m not sure if it’s her way of dealing with post-holiday letdown, or if something else is bothering her… after sixteen years, I have a pretty tough skin. But it’s still not a very nice way for the holiday to end. I’m wondering if things would have been better had I been home- maybe I could have stopped the slide into anger and depression, and I could have been here to nurse my son back to health. Or, maybe it’s just better for my own mental health to have to get up and go somewhere on Boxing Day. Maybe the third day of Christmas will be better. OR, maybe each day will get exponentially worse, GAAAAAHHHH!!!! Still to come- cookie baking part 2, 2025 goals post, and advent calendar reviews. Tomorrow will be a new day. How was your Boxing Day? Are you continuing the Christmas-y celebrations, or is it over? Do you get sad when Christmas ends?