Christmas Is Not For Introverts

"If I had my way- and I shan't- my Christmas day eating and drinking would consist of an omelet, cold ham and a nice bottle of wine at lunchtime, and a smoked salmon sandwich with a glass of champagne on a tray in the evening.  This lovely,selfish,anti gorging, un- Christmas dream of hospitality either given or taken, must be shared by thousands of women who know it's all Lombard Street to a China orange that they'll spend both Christmas Eve and Christmas morning peeling,chopping,mixing, boiling,roasting and steaming.  They will eat and drink too much, that someone will say the turkey isn't quite as good as last year, or discover the rum for the pudding has been forgotten.  .........We are so many fathoms deep in custom, tradition and sentiment over Christmas; we have got so far with our obsessive present buying and frenzied cooking, from
the spirit of a simple Christian festival, that only the most determined of scrooges can actually turn their faces to the wall and ignore the whole thing when the time comes.  All the same, there must be quite a few small families, couples without children, and people living alone, who like to celebrate Christmas in a reasonably modest and civilized way: inviting a friend or two who might otherwise be alone (well, maybe like you and me, they'd rather BE alone, but this is an eccentricity not accepted at Christmas time.)
Elizabeth David
Elizebeth David's Christmas

Such is the first chapter of a lovely book written by a contemporary of Julia Child.  Each  year, somewhere between Halloween and Thanksgiving, I look at our rapidly filling calendar and I begin our annual conversation on required events.
Me- "Promise me if we found out I was dying, I would get one last Christmas my way." 
Brian- "I promise, absolutely, we'll make it happen."
 Me- "Even though it will make other people mad?"
Brian- "Even then."
Me- "Isn't it sad I have to die to get this?"
Brian- "Then make it happen this year."

And while we both know it won't happen, I love him for saying it will.  Christmas just isn't an event for introverts.  For those of us whom the real meaning of the season is found in sitting in quiet reflection beneath the tree.  A friend and I once spent a wonderful afternoon lying under the tree just staring through the lights and tinsel. Or who dream of years with homemade ornaments, the smell of baking bread that will be secretly left on door steps- No huge announcement please, and time to play with the few carefully chosen gifts.  Time for advent calendars and solemn, candle lit, worshipful church services to welcome the King.  Everyone else demands the actual day,why can't He.  This is the point each year that I become officially fried.  Be patient with me, I am trying.