Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
Hating the Holidays as the Precursor to Happiness

Hating the Holidays as the Precursor to Happiness

Last updated on: December 26, 2014 at 5:15 pm by Jennifer Fitz

Hating the Holidays as the Precursor to Happiness 2014-12-26T17:15:10-05:00 Jennifer Fitz

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

You’re supposed to be happy now, because it’s the holidays. The rest of the year, a civil disposition generally suffices. But for the next eight weeks, if you aren’t madly in love with every gift, every canape, every delightful holiday fete . . . you aren’t just an ungrateful wretch, you’re a menace to society.

There are Good Reasons to Hate the Holidays

The thing about the modern holiday season is that it’s come unmoored. We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, we celebrate Thanks-Getting — heaven help you if you show insufficient gratitude when showered with Pumpkin Spice Jalapeno Wasabi chips. People worked hard to deliver that taste sensation into your undeserving hands, and you must reciprocate by demonstrating your heartfelt pleasure at their craft or else you just don’t love them nor America either.

Then there’s Giftmas. The reason for the season is Love and Sharing: You must love every outward sign of cheer being inflicted upon you, and you must share a sufficient amount of your wealth, time, and capacity for making inane conversation in order to prove that you, too, are a true citizen.

With joy like this, what’s not to hate?

Holy Days are No Vacation

The unmooring arises from forgetting that “holidays” are meant to be holy days. Sacred.

Back when I was not a Christian, I rightly perceived the mad frenzy of forced-cheerfulness to be meaningless. An awful lot of shopping, noise, and admonitions to cheer-up already! when there was no obvious grounds for cheerfulness, unless you just really love a crockpot full of mini-sausages. Even Swedish meatballs and miniature quiches just can’t stand up to the crushing darkness in the world.

If the reason for the season is to observe just how good we’ve got it, then it’s not unreasonable to notice that things could be better. A warm sunny tropical island, alone with a good book, might be nice just now.

Seriously, kids, if your idea of hedonism is the office drop-in, you need to get out more. There are better pleasures, I assure you.

Sacred Work is Good Work, but It’s Work

I’m fortunate to run in circles where the work of observing the holy days is generally quite pleasurable. I like the people in my extended family, and I like spending time with them. I love that I can do so without traveling for days on end, only to spend a long rainy weekend sharing a basement floor with twenty of my closest kinsmen. I’ve got it good.

But what about my friends who undertake immense labor, expense, and misery in order to keep the holidays in suitable fashion?

Well, no reason to pretend they’re having fun at it. And it would perhaps be better if the sacred work didn’t have quite such a penitential feel to it. But they are doing something very, very good.

Joy is not about Pleasure

I’ve given birth enough times to be able to say two things with confidence:

There are few other things in life more worthwhile than bringing a new human being into this world.
Childbirth is not particularly fun.

If you want to know what pain is, go up to a woman in labor and tell her, “Quit being such a grouch! You’re having a baby! Smile!” She looks busy, but she’s not too busy to punch you in the nose.

The holy days are joyful because they are a good work. We are rendering our thanks to God. We gather with the people whom we share this world with, not because they are perfect people, but because they are the people we’ve been given. We shower others with kindness not because we expect anything in return, but because God has shown such kindness to us in creating us, in sustaining us, and in holding out the promise of eternal salvation.

Pumpkin Pie as a Foretaste of Heaven

When we talk about the “Joy of the Cross” we don’t assert that torturous execution is a walk in the park. What we mean is that God loves us so much He’s willing to do whatever it takes to restore to us that walk in the park that is our supernatural destiny. So we have a Christ who comes bringing both miraculous cures, sign of our eternal hope, and a promised cross — our path through this fallen world into the next.

Keep in mind that even the easy part of being Jesus Christ — fixing broken bodies, kissing babies, calming storms — came at a cost. If the Cross was unspeakable suffering, wandering Galilee was probably a fair match for what it’s like to stand in the kitchen cooking all day.

So where are the holidays on this divine spectrum? Sometimes that pie is like water from the well, like empty vessels miraculously filled with the best wine. Other times it’s like slipping through a crowd trying to push you off a cliff. When life is darkest, maybe it’s the spear in your side.

How hateful to tell someone that the best thing about the holidays is turkey and stuffing, cheer up already! No. The best thing about the holidays is that we get to participate in the divine work of goodness, even when the turkey is absolutely horrid.

Image: Joos de Momper (II) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Previous Post

November 22, 2014

In Favor of Incompetent Housewives

Next Post

November 25, 2014 100 Things to Do on Thanksgiving Instead of Shopping

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Books Catechesis Catholic Q&A Chastity Church Craziness Come See Me Talk Disability & Chronic Illness Economics Evangelization Facepalm Forgiveness Good Things History Homeschooling Human Rights It's All Catholic Listen to Me Survey Series Liturgical Living Marriage Modesty Not Satire. But almost. Rant-o-Rama Sacred Art & Music Satire South Carolina Spark Clutter Stick that Corner Suffering Thinking Topics Writing Stuff

Select a Month September 2026 July 2026 June 2026 January 2026 December 2025 September 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 November 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 May 2019 April 2019 February 2019 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not _____ or boast...

Select your answer to see how you score.

Envy Scream Fail Brag