I'm not saying there's anything wrong with feeling sad if this is your first Christmas without your grandmother, or whoever. That can happen. Especially if Grandmother was the one who really enjoyed all the red and green and carols and chimes, and now that she's gone you find yourself not enjoying them much this year. Likewise if Grandmother was the one who insisted "We don't do Christmas! We are not Christians!" and, now that she's gone, you have the right and opportunity to decorate a tree and sing carols, but you feel strangely uninterested in doing that. In that sort of case, go ahead and cry. It will help. You'll be able to remember her and enjoy the shopping-stimulant silliness next year.
People who are not grieving any fresh loss, are not ill or disabled or in great financial disstress, but are just depressive, and need a good auntly scolding, are the intended targets for these ten recommendations:
1. Stay with a disabled relative. Most extended families include someone who is a burden on the relatives who live with person, who needs continuous care ...that relative.
2. Clean cages at your local animal shelter. Depression is often caused by mold reactions. Working with strong disinfectants may help you feel better.
3. Take a long walk. It may stir up your metabolism and boost your mood.
4. Buy a carload of fancy toiletries--shaving kits, shampoos, toothbrushes, deodorants. Donate them to your local food bank or homeless shelter. (You can probably get better prices if you pay cash at a local store, during the week before Christmas, next year.)
5. Homeless people go through socks and underwear faster than people who can bathe frequently. Buy a carload of all-new socks and underwear, say one full kit for each size the store has for as long as your money lasts. Donate them to your local food bank or homeless shelter.
6. Adopt two or three "spent" factory-farm hens. They won't look like much. They are considered "spent" when they're one year old. They may or may not ever lay eggs again, but if they're fed a healthy diet and allowed to scratch on unsprayed grass, they may be loyal outdoor pets for another year or two. They will start to look more like healthy birds who have something to live for in a few weeks.
7. Treat a couple of hardworking young parents and their toddler to a day at an amusement park.
8. Hard as Amazon has been pushing Audible, there are still books that are not available as audio recordings. Ask a blind person. Read one of those books on tape, CD, or as an audio file or files on a computer, whichever the person uses.
9. Do the chores and errands for a disabled person who needs continuous care.
10. Ask your local charity resale store for a bag of rejected clothes. Make a quilt, some shopping bags, a floor mat, cushions, or some other useful item.
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