This is a request for others' magical moments rather than one of my own to report.
The last two Christmases have been pretty disappointing. The central problem has been that due to deeply intertwined physical and mental health issues, my life has been barely acceptable year-round. While I've hoped for Christmas to provide a respite/escape from this, it has either been the case that I'm not "ready for" Christmas until sometime after the season is over, when nobody else wants to celebrate--or even when that's not the case, I've grown so distant from others that having someone know well enough what I need to be happy to be able to get me meaningful gifts has become impossible. The issue is not financial in any way--I've certainly received things of significant value, but they were things I needed to buy anyway, and not inspirational in the way I associate with Christmas (which things can be inexpensive or even free...). And when most of the year has felt as comfortable as a bed of nails, it's kind of hard to flip a switch and feel joyful and cozy at Christmas.
For next Christmas I'm going to do things differently--in particular I will take more of my own responsibility to set aside things to open on Christmas that I see at other times of the year. I also will make sure to have at least something I can ask for. And of course I will keep working on getting healthier. But I'm still open to the possibility that Christmas will "happen late" this season--as since I said sometimes I'm out of sync and need to do things "on my own time". It would be helpful though to receive some inspiration from others for whom this may have happened.
Has anyone, after having a lousy time during the conventional Christmas season, had a moment of "Christmas magic" that came later and made up for it, like in January, February, or even March? Something that surprised you--whether it was a book you saw by chance in a bookstore somewhere that introduced you to a new subject you felt was made for you all along, or a recommendation from someone to go somewhere where you discovered something you never knew existed, or even a Christmas gift that felt pointless when you received it leading you somehow on the path to fixing a problem whose solution had eluded you for many years? A moment that at the same time felt comfortably familiar and also reawakening, such that after it was over you felt a sense of closure around the holidays and could move on in a way you couldn't have anticipated during the holidays themselves?
The last two Christmases have been pretty disappointing. The central problem has been that due to deeply intertwined physical and mental health issues, my life has been barely acceptable year-round. While I've hoped for Christmas to provide a respite/escape from this, it has either been the case that I'm not "ready for" Christmas until sometime after the season is over, when nobody else wants to celebrate--or even when that's not the case, I've grown so distant from others that having someone know well enough what I need to be happy to be able to get me meaningful gifts has become impossible. The issue is not financial in any way--I've certainly received things of significant value, but they were things I needed to buy anyway, and not inspirational in the way I associate with Christmas (which things can be inexpensive or even free...). And when most of the year has felt as comfortable as a bed of nails, it's kind of hard to flip a switch and feel joyful and cozy at Christmas.
For next Christmas I'm going to do things differently--in particular I will take more of my own responsibility to set aside things to open on Christmas that I see at other times of the year. I also will make sure to have at least something I can ask for. And of course I will keep working on getting healthier. But I'm still open to the possibility that Christmas will "happen late" this season--as since I said sometimes I'm out of sync and need to do things "on my own time". It would be helpful though to receive some inspiration from others for whom this may have happened.
Has anyone, after having a lousy time during the conventional Christmas season, had a moment of "Christmas magic" that came later and made up for it, like in January, February, or even March? Something that surprised you--whether it was a book you saw by chance in a bookstore somewhere that introduced you to a new subject you felt was made for you all along, or a recommendation from someone to go somewhere where you discovered something you never knew existed, or even a Christmas gift that felt pointless when you received it leading you somehow on the path to fixing a problem whose solution had eluded you for many years? A moment that at the same time felt comfortably familiar and also reawakening, such that after it was over you felt a sense of closure around the holidays and could move on in a way you couldn't have anticipated during the holidays themselves?