This article by Ray Spitzenberger first appeared in Images for East Bernard Express, January 12, 2023.
Beginning sometime after I was ten years old, I suffered from what folks have come to call the “After-Christmas Blues.”
It was my mother’s sister giving birth to my two cousins in Houston that caused the syndrome to occur. From the year my twin and I were born, we celebrated Christmas with my maternal grandparents, aunts, and uncles (my brother and I were the only children in my mother’s family). Once we had cousins, Christmas was much more wonderful and exciting!
From the time my dearly loved Houston Aunt and Uncle had two daughters over a period of five years, Christmas really “rocked,” as far as my twin and I were concerned. My Dime Box aunts and uncles never had children, so this was an incredible change. Our bond was more like brothers and sisters. We had cousins from my father’s side of the family, but we usually did not celebrate Christmas with them.
These wonderful four family members from Houston would spend about a week with us in Dime Box, so you can see how I would get the “After-Christmas Blues” when they went back to Houston.
This Christmas, I felt somewhat the same “Blues” after my daughter and baby granddaughter from New York went back to New York after a joyful December week with us. According to my research on “After-Christmas Blues,” this is pretty “normal.”
Healthnews, an online site, added the idea that “After-Christmas Blues,” and “Christmas Blues,” were very similar, though my syndrome was definitely (then and now) “After.”
“After-Christmas Blues” is not a mental illness, but rather a temporary type of depression, where the person suffering from it feels a sense of sadness and emptiness for a limited time afterwards. It is very similar to what is called “Post-Vacation Blues,” wherein, when back from a great vacation trip, you feel a sense of emptiness.
Whether “Christmas Blues” or “After-Christmas Blues,” Healthnews offers suggestions for pulling out of this tailspin. Be sure you take time for some self-care, — get plenty sleep and healthy food. After all, if you are like me, you ate too many decadent Christmas goodies, and celebrating with family kept you up beyond your usual bedtime.
Another suggestion is to be active. Don’t sit around wishing your loved ones hadn’t had to leave. That ties into a final suggestion, which is to work on having a good mindset. A positive attitude and getting active can cure that sense of emptiness.
Well, I must tell you that I followed this advice, and it worked for me. So, instead of moping about the departure of my grandbaby, I am posting new photos of her in Grandpa’s Brag Book.
Every person is different, and some folks do not suffer from the “After-Christmas Blues” in fact, I know a few who feel an “After-Christmas Relief.” I’m guessing that the more sensitive we are, the more likely we are to get the Blues. I’m sorry, but some of us are just going to experience such temporary grieving, knowing there will be more Happy Christmases to come.
As Scripture says, “There’s a time for everything,” and I trust God to know when the celebrations should start and when they should end.
-o-
Ray Spitzenberger is a retired Wharton County Junior College teacher, a retired Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod pastor, and author of three books, It Must Be the Noodles, Open Prairies, and Tanka Schoen.