we go to the movies.
and eat.

Next year I'm gonna go by myself to the South Pole, Death Valley, or Anacapa Island, wrap myself up in blankets, fast, and watch the horizons 'til the holiday is over.

Almost as bad as some of my childhood Christmases...

I don't get it.

And clearly, after more than half a century on this earth, I never will.

and your plan is to avoid it next year.
Feeling bad is something nobody wants, and its a hard place
from which to make observations...
.
There's a lot built into your short reply, you can, of course, unpack it better than I can...but from my chair:

Avoiding bad things can be perfectly reasonable, even if going to the South Pole isn't practical.

Wanting to do something like swaddling so that you can feel better is, imho, desiring to do a wholesome thing that makes you feel good.

Having an expectation that the hurtful thing won't last, suggests a measure of hopefulness.


Boiled down, the general pattern of your plan sounds like a good outline for getting through a lot more than a stinky holiday season:

Avoid the things that hurt you
Do good things for yourself
Expect life to get better.

That looks a lot like a recipe for beating depression.

You are awesome!

I too am a Cubs fan in Milwaukee. As Einstein, a really smart guy, would observe, I keep doing the same things always expecting that THIS year will be different!

I wrote them down on a post-it note and put the note next to my computer. They are good advice.

My son gave me nice Cubs memorabilia for Christmas, Ron Santo things.

I guess we have learned how to have nice Christmases: We avoid my mother. She now spends Christmas alone, with my dementia-stricken father. It is in the interests of everyone's mental health to avoid her at Christmas. She spends most of her other time alone, too, in all her hateful, narcissistic splendor. She has hurt everyone too many times.

The spouse and I will definitely be "leaving the scene" next Christmas.