Well, here we are again. Another Christmas season, another year older, and another year of our kids living somewhere else. It’s the classic midlife Christmas dilemma: a mix of relief and melancholy.
The Amazon Christmas Remember the days of frantic mall trips, fighting crowds, and wrapping paper cuts? Those days are long gone, replaced by the serene comfort of Amazon Prime. A few clicks, and voila! Christmas shopping is done. No crowds, no stress, just the quiet satisfaction of knowing you’ve checked another holiday chore off your list. Best part? Buying your own Christmas gifts and acting surprised when you open them like, Wow! Who got this for me?
The Half-Assed Christmas Card Giver Who has time for fancy Christmas cards anymore? We don’t even bother with a photo. A generic holiday message and a few stamps later, and our Christmas card list is complete. We only send to those who send to us. It’s the modern-day equivalent of sending a smoke signal.
The Festive Drive-By Instead of hosting a bustling Christmas party, we’ve opted for a more leisurely approach: a festive drive-by. We’ll cruise around town, admiring the twinkling lights and the bazillions of inflatable snowmen. It’s a low-key way to get into the holiday spirit without all the fuss. But let’s be real, the traffic is terrible, and everyone seems to have forgotten how to drive. By the time we’re done, we’re cursing up a storm and feeling more stressed than festive.
The Exhaustion is Real Don’t get me wrong, we love the peace and quiet of an empty nest pre-Christmas. But let’s be honest, it’s also exhausting. We don’t even cook much anymore. Instead, we’re busy packing our bags for drive to our kids’ place. And let’s not forget about the inevitable snowstorm that’s sure to hit while we’re on the road. HA! Just joking. Doesn’t snow here. But always the chance of a hailstorm.
Missing the Kids As much as we enjoy our quiet Christmases, we can’t help but miss our kids. We reminisce about the chaos of Christmas mornings, the laughter, the tears, and the endless stream of questions about when we’re going to eat. But as we sip our margaritas and watch the rain fall outside our window, we know that these quieter moments are precious too. Maybe one day we’ll have grandkids to spend a few chaotic Christmas’s with?
So, here’s to another year of midlife Christmases. May they be filled with laughter, love, and a few too many margaritas. Merry Merry!