I’m one of those people who loves the holidays and starts counting down the days to celebrate between October and the New Year. There’s so much to enjoy between the get-togethers, food, lights, movies, decorating, and gifting.
But even if you aren’t like me — in the sense that the holidays aren’t the most exciting thing that happens to you all year and you don’t go overboard from Halloween until the last day of the year — the holiday letdown can still hit hard.
Gone are the days to use this time of the year as an excuse for everything. You want more candy, it’s the holidays. You want to buy yourself those boots you’ve been eyeing while Christmas shopping for the kids? It’s the holidays. The kids want to stay up late and watch television and make hot cocoa and munch on candy canes? It’s the holidays.
Then, the holidays come to a sudden halt, and you are left with a jam-packed fridge full of sugar, gadgets, and toys you can’t seem to find a place for or pants that don’t quite feel the same, and on top of that you are expected to get back to work and get the kids back into their school routine. There is nothing more unfun in the world.
I don’t know about you, but that Monday after the New Year is my most dreaded day of the year. I feel like I’m slogging through the day, just trying to get it over with. All the things I had to look forward to are gone, I’m going through sugar withdrawals, and trying to focus and get back into a routine feels impossible. I want to take a platter of Christmas cookies and crawl into bed and nurse my holiday hangover, but I decide to be an adult and move forward in life. It physically hurts me every single year no matter how much I try to prepare for it all.
Putting away all the holiday decorations makes me feel like my house is empty and lonely. The hum of the Hallmark Christmas movies I’ve had on 24/7 since October is gone. The only things in my house are the trash cans that are piled high with boxes and crinkled wrapping paper. The glitter that’s peppered all over the floor makes me nostalgic and I wish I could go back in time and do it all over again.
I used to feel so sad after the holidays as a kid, bit I somehow thought it would fade the older I got. However, it’s been the opposite. The holiday hangover is worse when you are an adult because you are the one who has to deal with the empty bank account, put the kids to bed at a decent time, and clean up all the holiday leftovers. Not to mention you are completely exhausted because without you, there’d be no holiday magic to miss.
If you suffer from the holiday letdown like me, let's normalize the fact that holiday hangovers are real. Give yourself time to recover. Screw the cleanse or diet you said you were going to try. Only make resolutions if you want to, and stock up on the leggings. Give your denim a rest. Maybe by March I will stop mourning the holidays, and pull it together. But until then I will be over here crying, picking cookie dough out of my hair, and counting down the days until I can start this overindulgent charade all over again.
