Season's Greetings

Christmas and I have a love/hate relationship. Every year of my preadolescence, my sister and I went to my grandparents house to trim their Xmas tree. It was a tradition that I enjoyed for many years, but along life's journey, family traditions became less important to me. As I developed my own sense of independence, I no longer felt the need to repeat any particular activity simply because that is what was always done.

As I distanced myself from the celebrations, I began to see the crass commercialism wrapped up in the holiday. Giving/receiving gifts no longer gave me any pleasure, because I realized that as a mindless consumer, I was contributing anything of value to society, yet the flashing lights and other distractions appeal to my Inattentive nature. Giving just to give, taking just to take – a hollow and selfish cycle. My family started bequeathing annual charitable donations among ourselves, (instead of wrapped material goods), and that makes much more sense to me – yet the spirit of the holiday season has still been absent from my heart.

Guaranteed: none of my fellow ADHDers conform easily. We do not march to the same rhythm as the does the rest of society – perhaps, meander is a better word – we meander to individuated, syncopated selection of backbeats and rhythms. Maybe some of the ADD crowd jives on Christmas carols and putting ornaments on the tree, but I am not among their number. The only way I can enjoy any activity is when I can take personal ownership in it.

My wife, on the other hand, loves Christmas. She loves the happiness and the joy (artificial, though it may be), and she loves the carols and the decorations. For her, Christmas is the only good aspect of winter, an otherwise dreary season. Because I love my wife more than my own breath, I took it upon myself to "get over it" and enjoy the holiday. And guess what… I have.

Conforming to our society's spiritual materialism, I bought decorations for a plastic tree my grandparents bought for us a few years ago. My wife even let me decorate our tree, and I enjoyed it.