I categorize past Christmases by their last-minute disasters. There was the one where we all had COVID. The one where it was just me who had COVID. There was the year I could only find the Star Wars cookie cutters, so we had Yoda instead of gingerbread men. Don’t forget the year when we all had lice.
The holiday season can laugh at your carefully orchestrated plans. Weather, illness, and broken water heaters don’t know it’s Christmas time. Or maybe they do, since they tend to be even more likely to happen in late December.
This year, I’m trying something new: absolutely no expectations. We aren’t traveling, the kids have provided detailed Christmas lists with links, and I’ve ordered our Christmas dinner from Blue Ribbon. Maybe there will be an exciting new disaster, or maybe there won’t.
I’m not a Grinch. I’m embracing my own version of secular holiday joy. So far, it turns out I want to make imperfect crafts and rummage through thrift stores for weird decorations. I want to dig out all the craft supplies I stockpiled during lockdown and actually use them. I don’t know why I have hundreds of silver pipe cleaners, but if you spend hours folding them into stars while watching “Miracle on 34th Street,” they make a nice garland that sheds glitter everywhere.
Social media tells me I’m not alone in seeking an offbeat, homemade holiday vibe. Influencers have declared “Sad Beige Mom Christmas” with its tasteful, neutral understatement to be out. Instead, we have a kitschy, maximalist aesthetic which I’ve seen called “Midwest Grandma,” “Little Women Winter,” or “Kitschy Christmas.” Gen Z has discovered paper chains, and they are making miles of them to deck their halls, layered with garlands of fabric scrap bows and orange slices painstakingly dried for hours in a low oven. Repeat viewings of “Home Alone” have imprinted the rich colors and ornate 1980s decor of the McAllister house as their aspirational “Ralph Lauren Christmas.”
There’s a deeper meaning, though, behind the non-“Sad Beige Mom” Christmas we’re drawn to this year. Nostalgia for a non-picture-perfect childhood Christmas is part of it. Whether real or imagined, these ghosts of Christmas past feel safe and happy. We’re also facing an uncertain year ahead–inflation and tariffs have us making decorations with what’s lying around instead of heading to Target.
For me, at least, this festive season at the end of a hard year brings a touch of existential dread. From this angle, the rituals we follow so strictly are honestly a little silly. I mean, hanging doodads off a tree inside our house? Listening to the same 20 songs over and over until our ears bleed? No amount of gift wrapping, decorating, party planning, or listening to “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” will trigger world peace, so do what you want. If hanging strings of cranberries and popcorn everywhere makes me feel good, I’m going to do it.
Whatever you celebrate, I hope you’ll join me this season in letting things be colorful and messy. Do random acts of kindness, put all the kids’ homemade ornaments on the tree. It’s dark and cold out there, but we can still seek joy.
Jessica Barnard has lived in Belmont since 2010 with her husband and two children. She is an administrator at Harvard University, a writer, and a Town Meeting member. Her website is jessicaclembarnard.com.
