"Christmas, Christmas time is here, time for joy and time for cheer!" While we would all like to believe in the fantasy of a perfect, loving, soul-warming Christmas, chances are that's not what you are going to get.
What you are going to get is credit card debt, paper cuts from wrapping presents, jet lag and added miles on your car from travel, not to mention ending up more tired after your holiday than when it began. And that's why I feel true Christmas cheer here in Beijing.
While I am sad about being away from family, I feel a sense of pure freedom celebrating in Beijing. Gone are the days of choosing which parents' house I go to and for how long on Christmas Day. Gone is the painful and agonizing church service my father forces me to attend each Christmas Eve, not to mention the dry and tasteless Christmas roast my step-mom makes each year for Christmas dinner.
In Beijing, I can celebrate my favorite time of year on my own terms. Standing in the post office sending out my Christmas cards half a world away, knowing that was all the Christmas shopping I had to do, I let out a sigh of relief.
"I don't know what to get for my husband."
"What can I get my mom this year? She is so hard to shop for!"
"I am spending all my money on gifts this year. I don't know how I will pay my rent!"
These are the messages flooding in from my friends back home. In addition, many of my friends are stressed about traveling, seeing old family members they don't like having to answer questions like "When will you get married?" and "Have you put on some weight?"
So, how am I celebrating Christmas? My friends and I reserved a table at a teppanyaki restaurant in Sanlitun and we will celebrate gorging on all the delicious food. Also, I am spending a few days in Shanghai visiting Disneyland, which will be all decorated for Christmas. For those of you who think I must not like my family, or that I am a horrible daughter, you're wrong. I love my family more than anything. I just don't think you have to visit them on a certain day to show it. And this year, I am celebrating Christmas my way!
This article was published on the Global Times Metropolitan section Two Cents page, a space for reader submissions, including opinion, humor and satire. The ideas expressed are those of the author alone, and do not represent the position of the Global Times.