Christmas has always been a special time of year for me often full of joy and sadness; expected for a person with Bipolar 2 Disorder. For the third year in a row we had horrible problems with online shopping. My wife earns less than minimum wage delivering newspapers as a "contract worker" in Canada and thus she earns a quarter of her annual income in Christmas tips. We often buy things which broke over the year or which would help make life almost bearable as a poor rural Canadian. When a certain company tried to take double the cost of a laptop and electronics; stealing our insurance and mortgage payment. Last year a more reliable company had problems with our online order and Christmas morning my wife was finally able to get the order through. This year the same company had a computer glitch which caused them to be unable to accept the last of my wife's money spent on gift cards; a way to prevent a company from stealing more money than the bill required. Once again on Christmas morning my wife solved the problem again.
This is how we replace things for the house, buy clothing, movies and get gifts for each other; luxuries. We live in a rural Ontario town which pretty much becomes a ghost town after dark in winter; more so during a snowstorm like last night. The stress built up and my wife and I exploded due to the gift card mess. We stormed out of the house going in opposite directions into the storm. Bad weather is the great Canadian equalizer; especially during a snowstorm. After 10 minutes going in opposite directions we cooled our heads and love triumphed over anger. I think the stinging cold blowing snow in the darkness helped. We came up with a plan and by morning my wife's idea solved the problem.
I was still depressed in the morning even after the problem and crisis was resolved. My mom called to wish us a merry Christmas and we talked a bit and my bipolar depression lifted slightly. Even at age 50, talking to your mommy makes everything better; Hahahaha. Then I made a light breakfast and shoveled a path from the door to the road. We opened the few presents and gave our cats some new catnip toys. Then we were off to a free community dinner at the town hall with all the fixins plus all us poor folks we got a $10 grocery gift card. Then we got the instant blizzard of lake affect snow from far away Georgian Bay. Soon it will be the last tradition of the Doctor Who Christmas Special and then sleep. Shoveling even more snow can wait for the morning; possibly even Boxing Day snowshoeing for exercise. Last year I wore jeans and a t-shirt; even rode my bicycle on a snow-free Christmas Day.
On a another thought, I know I've not posted in a long time, but I've been writing and writing and even more writing; a tiny bit of editing. I have 600-700 pages to edit and then send it to my volunteer editor possibly after breaking the trilogy into thematic chapters. I got distracted and took a vague idea for a Steampunk Mystery adventure story into an actual multi-page story thus far with characters I now love. A few more winter walks in a blizzard and I may come up with a sppoky "Shining-esque" winter horror story. Norwood, Ontario is the perfect little rural town with a few additions for a perfect horror or mystery story.
A few more days and my depression will mostly be gone and I can enjoy the season. We all experience the season differently. I need merely survive the season and with luck a Seasonal Affective Disorder desk light will help with the winter blues. With all this snow we can also take pictures for next years personalized Christmas cards. There's nothing like Christmas in the country. Be safe and enjoy the season. Winter is not always the enemy. It can be fun.