You know how every year we talk about the importance of keeping the Christmas spirit all year, but then pack it up with the rest of our Yuletide junk come January 1st? Well, I did it. I decided to celebrate Christmas for an entire year. I didn't celebrate every day mind you, but at least once every month (sometimes more), I had myself a Merry Little Christmas. I enjoyed festive food, sung Christmasy carols, watched the most special of holiday specials, and found small ways of showing my loved ones how much I cared. Most importantly, I wrote about my experiences in my brand-new book, Christmas Addict.
Christmas Addict, is the journal of a man who loved Christmas a little too much. At times, it's funny. At times, it's sad. At times, it's inspirational. Just like me, it's a little bit of everything, and is a unique chronicle of a very unique year.
Looking to find more ways of incorporating Christmas into your daily life? Maybe looking for an unusual read for this year's Advent season? Just curious to see if I can pull it off (and if it drove me crazy)? Christmas Addict is definitely worth checking out!
Check out this excerpt from the Introduction:
Hello. My name is Jason Korsiak, and I'm addicted to Christmas. This is the part where, if we were sitting in a circle, you would reply, “Hi, Jason.” I would feel empowered, having gotten that off of my chest, and would look forward to a journey of ridding myself of my addiction. Others who came before me would impart their words of wisdom on me and would guide me through the process. I'd draw strength from them and, step by step, come to that place of places wherein I could confess within myself that I was, in fact, a Christmas Addict and would always be one, but that I was simply choosing to not indulge my addiction anymore.
Oh sure, it would be difficult around the holidays. I would have to turn down any number of party invites. I'd need to focus my attention like a laser in stores and not let myself wander down seasonal aisles, lest the lure of lights and glittering baubles bump me off the wagon. Family and friends would feel inconvenienced – and maybe even make fun of my plight. After earning my one-year chip, they likely still wouldn't join in my non-celebrations, and that's to say nothing of the dating scene! If you think it's hard to meet people if you have kids or are a smoker, imagine how tough it would be explaining to a stranger that you don't celebrate Christmas because you can't control yourself around it.
No, I'd remain alone, my world smaller and smaller as that empty spot in the corner where a blinking tree once stood taunts me each year. Then, one day, I would happen upon a radio station playing carols and unconsciously sing along. “It was just one carol,” I'd tell myself, but, deep down, I would know better. Soon, I'd trick myself into putting out a tree. Just a small one, of course. You know, for the sake of nostalgia. Really, it's just to prove how much I don't need it. Then a nativity, for religious purposes mind you. Sooner or later, I'd be back where I started: surrounded by a billion lights and watching Rudolph twenty-five times in a month. Finally, once Advent was over, and done having its way with me, I'd once again face the bitter truth:
“My name is Jason Korsiak, and I am addicted to Christmas.”
Here's the thing, though; I don't want to quit. I don't want help. I don't want an intervention. What I want is more Christmas! Every Christmas, we're told that we should keep the spirit all year. Our most beloved specials tell us to do so, as do the sermons at church. And yet, most of us box it up come January 1st and forget the lessons it taught us. We forget the feelings it stirred in us. We forget the forgiveness it extended to us and through us. We muster enough Yuletide good will for a month or two (when we aren't killing each other in department stores over the perfect gift), but then go right back to our miserable selves as soon as the ball drops on New Year's Eve. It's like a 'permission' countdown:
“Resume your regularly-scheduled judgment towards others in 10...9...8...”
So I wondered to myself, what would happen if we actually did it? What if we really did celebrate Christmas all year? Would we be kinder? Would we be more generous? Would we be more patient with the foibles of others? I think so; my hypothesis is that the world would be a better place if there was more Christmas in it. I couldn't test this theory on the world, naturally, but as a hopeless Christmas Addict, I was as good a candidate for a case study as anyone. My plan is to celebrate Christmas at least once a month for a year and monitor my attitude. Would it help me to be a better person? Would it enhance my Christmas experience when it rolls around, or would having a monthly celebration make it less special? Would I even be able to pull it off?
The answer to these questions and more await you in the chapters ahead, a journal I maintained for an entire year, chronicling my experiences and the insights they gave me. The following stories are true; the names have been changed to keep me off of anyone's naughty list.
Interesting in more? Get your copy here.
Ever Upward
Jason Korsiak is a writer and speaker based out of Weeki Wachee, FL. See him next at Joining Hands Mission United Methodist Church, where he will be kicking off the first event in a three-date tour based on his books, The Monster Gospels and The Monster Gospels For Kids. Learn more about the event here.