12/17/2025
Some brief thoughts about the holiday season this year from Monica Robinson...
"These holidays are so complicated. Complicated, meaning bigger and more layered than a sentence or paragraph can capture.
They are really complicated this year.
There’s the usual pressures: be with family? Avoid family? Ache because there’s no family at all? Buy gifts, don’t buy gifts, who will feel neglected or disappointed, re-gift? Too gauche?
Ghosts of holidays past: the good ones, the lousy ones, the ones that never were, the ones that will never be again.
Sugar! So much sugar!
And this year. Should I buy anything at all? And how can I celebrate in the midst of so much hardship?
Guilt. Anger. Helpless sorrow. It’s overwhelming, on top of the usual overwhelm these days.
But, as my dear, wise friend reminded me, holidays of all kinds and from everywhere are, at heart, about bringing in the light.
And we need the light. More than ever.
So in the swirl of joy, sorrow, anger, love, worry and guilt...
Light a candle.
Bring in the light.
Bring in your light."