Why Christmas Isn't the Happiest Time of the Year

Everyone knows that the winter holidays are supposedly the happiest time of the year. Well, I say it is not for a lot of families around the world, even just in our hometowns. So let me explain this a bit as I am sure a lot of people would disagree with me.

My family celebrates Christmas so I will be going off of that specific holiday for this article. This time of year the letters from kids go out to Santa and they ask for all the things they have wanted all year long. As parents we want to make their holiday as magical as possible for them, so we try to get as much of it as we can. Yet every year there are many parents that struggle to get their kids stuff even from the dollar store. Where bills, rent and food always have to come first so that basic needs are met, leaving them with next to nothing to get their kids any gifts. I can't tell you how painful it is to know that your kids won't get anything off their list this year, you feel like a failure to them. They feel like they did a lot wrong and Santa didn't bring them what they wanted. It's absolutely devastating in every way.

Where my kids will get socks and things they need from Santa the kids down the block got a new game system. Where the presents from my wife and I are what we could afford for them their friends get what they wanted.

Now don't get me wrong spoil your kids if you can, you only get so long to do those types of things. I just wish this time of year wasn't so consumer based. You can only ask your kids to go through so much before they feel there is something wrong. We all try to hide our poverty from our kids so they don't feel the crush of financial situations. Still once a year every year millions of kids wake up excited and get disappointed. There is no worse feeling in the world than seeing disappointment on your kids face when they have tried so hard to be good all year.

They see all these Christmas movies about kids getting everything they want. Of course they get excited for their Christmas morning, just to feel like they did something Santa didn't like and got put on the naughty list. No kid should feel like that ever. It's not like these families don't try, heck I have a full time job and yet I still can't afford to give my kids a good Christmas. My heart breaks everyday leading up to the 25th of December knowing that once again I failed my kids.

Trust me, I have instilled into my kids that this time of year is about family and fun times with the family. But in the end, due to their ages, they can't wait to see what Santa and mom and dad got for them.

To me this doesn't make this time of the year the best time, it makes it the worst. No matter what I do at this time every year it comes down to what I can afford. The answer most of the time is dollar store toys and socks for all of them. It sucks to feel like you fail your kids and it's the same for many many families all over. So how can we call it the best time of the year when, easily, a third of the population feel like they have failed? As much as I hate consumerism I try not to pass that down to my kids because they are just that, kids. They expect Christmas to be a holly jolly time of year where they are rewarded for their good behavior by a fat elf in a red suit.

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Kris