Christmas a state of mind?

[Wolfnox]

So just for context i have always enjoyed Christmas. Mostly the time leading up to it. Everyone seems so cheerful during this time. Hopeful that good things were in the horizon. A year or two ago i was very sick. This illness attacked my body and mind. For an entire month. Needless to say it was one of the worst times of my life. Nightmares, depression, lots of very terrible thoughts. I was lucky in one respect at the virus peak influence it was a few weeks before Christmas. In the radio was cheerful songs full of hope. The tv was filled with happy movies about Christmas. It helped me pull threw. Gave me hope i would get well. After another month i won that fight. Though the mental damage lingered for another three months. Some of the damage i believe is permanent. Certain things i once could watch or read i cant now. But im alive still counting Christmas's and giving thanks to God. For surviving to see more.

 

[AGXStarseed]

I do think both the feel good nature of the holiday and the nostalgia of the good times do both play into why Christmas can serve as a positive pick-me-up for a lot of people.
Glad to hear that you overcame your illness and I wish you all the best for this Christmas and for the year ahead.

 

[Professori]

Christmas is most definitely a time of cheer and joy, and it’s supposed to be. Of course, it has been unabashedly commercialized, but the spirit should always be a very positive and uplifting one. Great that you pulled through and have continued to fund it uplifting.
Unfortunately, there are those who have no families, have suffered loss, are depressed, and then Christmas adds to their sense of loneliness and abandonment. The suicide rate rises. But it really is great to know that you have not ended up on that side of the continuum.

 

[Bolletje]

I don’t buy into the commercial side of Christmas, but I do enjoy Christmas time. My mom’s birthday is on the first day of Christmas and that means cooking with my mom for a few days and serving a lavish family meal on Christmas Day. She’s the only one that gets gifts.

 

[Streetwise]

So just for context i have always enjoyed Christmas. Mostly the time leading up to it. Everyone seems so cheerful during this time. Hopeful that good things were in the horizon. A year or two ago i was very sick. This illness attacked my body and mind. For an entire month. Needless to say it was one of the worst times of my life. Nightmares, depression, lots of very terrible thoughts. I was lucky in one respect at the virus peak influence it was a few weeks before Christmas. In the radio was cheerful songs full of hope. The tv was filled with happy movies about Christmas. It helped me pull threw. Gave me hope i would get well. After another month i won that fight. Though the mental damage lingered for another three months. Some of the damage i believe is permanent. Certain things i once could watch or read i cant now. But im alive still counting Christmas's and giving thanks to God. For surviving to see more.

I'm not an atheist! so I don't know how atheists in general interact completely with that period in December , I'd like to talk to people who celebrate saturnalia only and Yule only!
Being autistic! I was only affected by Christianity in my later childhood and less so in my earlier childhood !as most of my family are neurodiverse, we didn't celebrate the way someone would who is neurotypical, so I don't have that perception of socialising that would give me experience.