As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become to relate more and more to the Grinch. When I was a child, I looked at the Grinch and wondered how the hell anyone could hate the December holidays. Presents, big Christmas buffets, family get-togethers, streets and homes decorated with bright colours and sparkles, and upbeat music everywhere. Once you get older the real truth behind the season unfolds, and you realise the salty and sassy behaviour of The Grinch is a lot more relatable after all.
Once I moved into the Hospitality industry out of high school, I started realising just how horrible Christmas can make people. People go into large amounts of debt just to get the best-looking presents for their family and friends, long queues in town, aggression and a rise of beeping horns in the traffic throughout the city centres. People feel the pressure to be the best during Christmas. They want to give the best presents, look the fanciest, and feel the nicest.
I had to learn how to keep my cool dealing with people that got so caught up in the rush ordering food at my workplace. When people have been busy and they get hungry, they get angry and impatient. Angry and impatient people are not easy to just calm down, and an explosion of emotions from both employee and customer is not what you want either.
I constantly wish every coming December that people would be able to deal with the season better but commercialism is so ingrained in our holiday culture that it’s never truly escapable. Maybe if I could find a way to move out into a cabin in the middle of the forest for a few months as the year closes, I’d be fine. Happy and calm. But most of the time, I just spend the time sinking away into my own home with my best of friends and family once my work is done. My own peace of mind is more important at the end of the day than trying to convince people that their silly holiday endeavours are a waste of time.
But one thing I do value about Christmas is that quality time with family over good food and drink. Everyone is joyful, you get to hear stories people have over their reflection of the last year passed and what they've learned about themselves. I’ve had the privilege to meet the new babies of the family, and hear everyone's new plans for the New Year. The 25th of December truly brings out the best of people when it comes to family. In my family, you always make sure you try to come back to your roots during the jolly season. It’s tradition and you can always rely on everyone to uphold it by taking a bit of time away from work. Some of us even make the effort to travel hours to get back to our hometown to celebrate Christmas joys somehow. Even if it means Christmas has to be pushed forward or backwards, there's always been a will to make it happen.
