Posts tagged christmas
The Mean Season: 6 Tips to Survive the Holidays When You’re Single, Sad, or Just Not Feeling Festive

Without question, the holiday season can be a real strain at the best of times. There’s the commercial pressure of gift-giving, the aggressive calendar of festive parties, and the sudden reappearance of relatives you’ve successfully avoided since Easter. Add twinkly lights and a soundtrack of relentless cheer, and suddenly everyone’s pretending it’s magical while quietly Googling “how early is too early for wine?”

Sure, the season looks pretty. Fairy lights do their job. Tinsel sparkles. But for a lot of us, the holidays are the most challenging time of year to be single, alone, grieving, or simply not where we thought we’d be by now.

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Life LessonsChristina Fordchristmas, Mean Season, holidays, depression, seasonal sadness, SurvivorComment
"Unwrap the Magic: London's Top 6 Christmas Department Stores You Don't Want to Miss!"

'Tis the season to be jolly, and what better way to soak in the festive spirit than by exploring London's iconic department stores decked out in holiday splendor?

London often makes the Top Ten Lists of Most Christmassy Cities, and for that, I say Ho Ho Ho. Although I think next year I’ve got to check out Vienna, New York, Montreal, or Munich as they never fail to trump London according to the lists I’ve read.

But what I love about London at Christmas is that not one well-trained waiter or department store elf is afraid to wish you a Happy Christmas (they rarely say Merry), rather than the North American generic, "let’s-not-offend-anyone" Happy Holidays.

I have shown you London at Christmas on the outside, and I do that because it dazzles, and every year there is something new.

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Shopping, Places I Love, Things to DoChristina FordChristmas on Oxford Street, christmas, Department Store, Harrods, Selfridge, Selfridge's Christmas Windows, Peter Jones, Fortnum and Mason, Covent Garden, Santa, Piccadilly, Valentino, Harvey Nichols Comment
10 Little Big Things: Embracing the Season with Small Acts of Kindness

I'm about to confess something to you, and I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in feeling this way.

I hate this time of year. Hate it!

It's like the world turns into a dark, cold, dreary scene from a Christopher Nolan movie. Beyond the gloomy weather and the scant hours of daylight, we're bombarded with that marketing juggernaut we ironically call “the most wonderful time of the year,” Christmas. That used to respectfully wait until we blew out the candle in our Halloween pumpkin, but now it relentlessly tramples over the remnants of Back to School. Shame, I want to scream like that scene from Game of Thrones. Shame! Then, as if that's not enough, comes the overwhelming pressure and expectation of a shiny, hopeful New Year. A fresh start, they say, that begins, for a lot of people with a massive NYE headache. Excuse me if I don’t have a serious case of JOMO, the joy of missing out. Ugh, it's just insertyourfavoriteexpletivehere brutal. But before you start searching for a therapist for me, let me clarify something.

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Life Lessons, Things to DoChristina Fordchristmas, happiness, kindness, to do list, Halloween, Game of Thrones, seasonal sadness, depression, Christmas bluesComment