I think I may have written about this before. I know we have covered it in the podcast, but today I have a new twist on things. I am an atheist, which is no surprise to anyone who listens to the podcast or follows us on twitter. In the United States, I celebrated Christmas as I saw it. A celebration of copious consumption and consumerism. I also saw Christmas shopping as a patriotic act because most retail outlets make the money they need to stay in business in December and November, which is why I shopped all-year round. I felt it was my patriotic duty to treat every month like it was time to shop for the holidays. It was also the best way to catch the best deals. For example, the Pokémon figurines were often in the dollar bin at toy stores as were Transformers, super-heroes, and specialty items that become collector items in November. My two best specialty finds were a tickle-me Elmo and a Lord Voldemort figurine. Both were super cheap to buy in August and impossible to find for purchase in November. My shopping habit in the US was that in August I would begin shopping for Christmas and Chad’s birthday. In January I would begin shopping for Rasta’s birthday. In addition to being patriotic I was dirt poor until Rasta was 5 years old and never wanted him to feel like a poor kid. Growing up in the foster-care system, I know what it is like to be the kid who has nothing and I never wanted that for Rasta.
Our Christmas in the US started on December 1st and every day until the 25th we would open a present from our stocking. I would refill the stocking several times to ensure that everyone had something to open all 24 days. Sometimes we would even open presents on December 23rd or 22nd. Whatever felt right for us. How we celebrated Christmas made a lot of people angry. They felt like it was sacrilegious. I feel like it is sacrilegious to have a hedonistic copious consumption ceremonial celebration for a religious figurehead that is the embodiment of sacrifice. Now that we live in Japan, a country that is a mix of Buddhist, Shinto, and atheist with a sprinkle of other faiths we don’t celebrate Christmas at all. I do not plan to ever celebrate Christmas again in my life, and I feel free. One of the things I enjoy most about life in Japan is the freedom to be my authentic self. I also enjoy being the parent of an adult. I feel as though each year my obligations to others shrinks. I get to enjoy the things that I truly enjoy and do the things that I truly want to do. Now I just need to figure out if that is still living in Japan and having a private therapy practice. My hope is that you were able to spend the holiday doing what you truly want to do. I spent the time working on my PhD and made really good progress on chapter two of my dissertation. Right now, life is busy and I need to find time to focus on the root of my overall dissatisfaction. My ambition is to resolve this by the end of January and know what I’m going to do.