On the First Day of Christmas...

Merry Christmas ya'all!

Even though everybody expects you to be happy around the holidays, those of us struggling with our mental health know that  it is not always that simple. But we are not the only ones, lots of folks get the Holiday Blues. It's okay. You are not an evil person because you cried on Christmas Day.

Maybe you miss your family because you could not afford to go visit them.

Maybe you lost your job recently and could not afford to buy your loved ones any gifts.

Maybe you work hard every day at a thankless job that does not pay well so you still could not afford to buy your loved ones gifts.

Maybe you just broke up with someone.

Maybe you are going through a divorce.

Maybe this time of year reminds you of a loved one who has passed away.

Maybe you don't even know why you are supposed to be happy during Christmas and you are depressed by the rabid displays of materialism, greed and hedonism that abounds this time of year. ("It's alright, Charlie Brown, I'll tell you what Christmas is all about.")

Maybe you are fighting depression, feel like a failure and are wondering if your life has any meaning. ("Get me back to my wife and kids! Help me Clarence, Please! I want to live again! I want to live again! I want to live again...Please, God...let me live again...")

Maybe somebody at school is bullying you and casting a shadow on your celebration. (In which case, don't make like Rudolph and just run away. Tell a Teacher, your parents, the School Counselor, your pastor, or your physical ed coach!)

You are all not alone, whichever the case may be. While gratitude is not the same thing as happiness and one does not follow automatically upon the other, it helps sometimes to start your day with three things that you are grateful for that happened in the last 24 hours. So for each of the 12 days of Christmas, I am going to share some of mine, in the hope that it will remind you of something that you can be glad about. ("Don't let's be gloomy! Let's play the 'glad game'!)

(singing) On the First Day of Christmas Baby Jesus Gave To Me...(hehe)

1. All the little children that I gave gifts to loved the small gifts of candy that I gave them! Yay! Gotta love unspoiled children!

2. A chance to go caroling for the elderly in my home town. I wanted to visit some people who might be lonely around Christmas or in pain. So I went with my choir from my parish and sang up and down the corridors and in the rooms in all the resting homes I knew about. You should have seen the smiles on their faces...it moved me to happy tears.

3. Lots of Ham, Turkey, Mashed Potatoes and Homemade Toffee!

Thank you Baby Jesus! Merry Christmas to All, God Bless you and go drink some Hot Cocoa with Peppermint Schnapps! Go eat some more turkey and ham! Go hug a relative you hardly know! Go kiss your  loved one under a mistletoe! Go have a caroling party! Go eat a sugar cookie! Go build a Gingerbread house! Or just curl up on the couch with a blanket, put on a pair of silly-looking fuzzy socks and watch the Christmas movies that warmed your heart when you were younger and wiser. Sending everyone in the whole world lots of love and wishing you all peace and joy this holy season.