The cold weather affects my mood, makes me a grumpy old sag who drags her feathery sleepers around the house while miserably waiting for the winter to be over. I do not go out. I hibernate, and since the cold weather darkens my mood, I try my hardest to interact with the least number possible of people. I avoid parties, large gathering, and celebrations at all cost. You must find it hard to believe, but I have never liked parties. I loathe them.
And above all I despise Christmas.
It’s in the wretched winter season that my features change, my skin gets dry, and the sweater that I love the most, the only one, that scares away coldness and anxieties is green. But not any kind of green, it is a grinch-green sweater, so whenever I wear it I hold a striking resemblance to the Grinch, ironically, green is the color that suits me best. Life has a funny way to show us who we really are.
But not all it’s lost, because there is always hope in me, hope that one day people will understand that Christmas is not a season to assault our bank accounts, bury us in deep debt, or value ourselves and others because of material things.
There is hope in me that humanity one day will see that what we celebrate in Christmas is togetherness not wasting. I hope that we, humanity, will understand that we should love each other every single day, as we try to do at Christmas.
Yoneko: Writer and consultant 