I wrote this article for Covenant Spotlight’s December issue. I suspect there may be a wider audience that needs to read it. <\/em><\/p>\n

Christmas blues are very real. For many what should be the most joyous time of the year, is the darkest. Those holiday blues can be banished, but it takes some work. If you, or someone you love, is a blues victim this time of the year, the key to banishment is identifying the source. <\/span><\/p>\n

The blues may be rooted in jealousy. In every life, there is someone who does Christmas better. You know the type. The Christmas decorations magically appear on Black Friday and disappear on Epiphany. Gifts are purchased and wrapped by December 1st. Holiday meals are torn from the pages of Good Housekeeping. We can\u2019t hope to measure up. CHRISTMAS IS NOT A CONTEST. <\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes we are really competing with memories. We strive to make this Christmas like the ones we remember, or worse we try to make up for the Christmases we never had and believe we deserved. CHRISTMAS PAST WAS NEVER AS GOOD OR BAD AS WE REMEMBER.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes we try to make up at Christmas for what we mess up all year. Gift giving and holiday preparation can often be a makeup. The year is coming to an end and we realize that we haven\u2019t been as loving or supportive or even present as we should have been. CHRISTMAS ISN\u2019T A DO OVER FOR A LOUSY YEAR. <\/span><\/p>\n

For us older folks sometimes Christmas is a desperate attempt to maintain control. We want the kids, grandkids, great grandkids, and in-laws to be with us. We have our traditions. Don\u2019t the kids still love us? After all, we do Christmas best. CHRISTMAS CHANGES. GO WITH THE FLOW.<\/span><\/p>\n

Want to banish the blues? Forget the past. Do what seems right and rejoice in those who can do more. Cherish the now. Let traditions morph with time. Forgive yourself and others. If you truly love, let go. JESUS IS THE REASON NOT JUST FOR THE SEASON BUT FOR EVERYTHING. SO NOTHING ELSE REALLY MATTERS. HAVE A BLESSED CHRISTMAS. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I wrote this article for Covenant Spotlight’s December issue. I suspect there may be a wider audience that needs to read it.  Christmas blues are very real. For many what should be the most joyous time of the year, is the darkest. Those holiday blues can be banished, but it takes some work. If you, or someone you love, is a blues victim this time of the year, the key to banishment is identifying the source. The blues may be rooted in jealousy. In every life, there is someone who does Christmas better. You know the type. The Christmas decorations magically appear on Black Friday and disappear on Epiphany. Gifts are purchased and wrapped by December 1st. Holiday meals are torn from the pages of Good Housekeeping. We can\u2019t hope to measure up. CHRISTMAS IS NOT A CONTEST. Sometimes we are really competing with memories. We strive to make this Christmas like the ones we remember, or worse we try to make up for the Christmases we never had and believe we deserved. CHRISTMAS PAST WAS NEVER AS GOOD OR BAD AS WE REMEMBER. Sometimes we try to make up at Christmas for what we mess up all year. Gift […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"chat","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-chat","hentry","category-the-spiritual","post_format-post-format-chat"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nicksigur.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nicksigur.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nicksigur.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nicksigur.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nicksigur.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9704"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/nicksigur.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9707,"href":"https:\/\/nicksigur.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9704\/revisions\/9707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nicksigur.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nicksigur.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nicksigur.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}