Not feeling the Christmas spirit? Here's how to skip Christmas altogether this year
If you secretly cringe at the thought of the festive season and all it entails, just give it a miss this year!
Does the Christmas season stress you out? Do you feel jaded by the ‘season to be jolly’? Would you prefer alone-time to all the Christmas gatherings and events? You’re probably not the only one. And a solution does exist! Escape the Christmas happenings this year, if that’s what you’d rather do! Here are some alternative ways to spend the holidays.
Travel to an exotic place where they don't celebrate Christmas
A little investment and planning is required for this one, but there are several places in the world where Christmas is completely overlooked and you don’t even have to remember it’s the festive season. Travel to India, for example. Bar Christian Goa, pretty much all of the rest of Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist India, from Rajasthan to the Himalayas to the exotic Andaman & Nicobar Islands, simply ignores Christmas altogether. Bonus: the south of India allows for a beach and hammock mood!
Have an adventure
Closer to home, keep yourself busy and your mind occupied with an adventure away from it all. You probably want to keep your digital media switched off too, to avoid all the greetings, adverts and other reminders; just keep the device close in case you actually need to use it. Then, go on a road trip through your choice of European countries, climb a mountain in the Alps or simply go on a trekking trip around Gozo. All you have to do is avoid the commercial areas and people in general - the trees, the sky, the birds, the mountains and the sea don’t know it’s meant to be Christmas.
Hide away
You can do this in style or on a shoestring, really. All you need to do is inform your nearest and dearest that you’re going away on a ‘holiday’ and that you won’t be reachable or keeping in touch much. It is quite mandatory to do the aforementioned digital media fast (in itself a rather satisfying experience that reconnects you to the here and now), otherwise you’ll be pinged with Christmas messages and images all too often. Then go on an 'escape the Christmas hype' yoga retreat, book into a cosy luxurious farmhouse in Gozo or go camping in a remote spot - Comino, for example, is pretty much desolate during the winter.
Go on! It's not about being selfish, it's about self-love! Right?