It should be the most wonderful, twinkliest time of the year. Instead, the Christmas break we’d all hoped for is turning out to be very different.
Dr Katie Greenaway, a senior lecturer in social psychology at Melbourne University, believes that while we’ve all had to get used to more time on our own during 2020, this Christmas may be tricky. For one mother, who asked not to be named, this Christmas will be spent alone, without her two boys who will be with their father this year .
“Ultimately not having the children around is a difficult thing, absolutely, in that the joy of Christmas does tend to involve kids,” she says. Another tip is to try and reframe the situation. “Maybe it’s an opportunity to have a virtual Christmas with people you can’t be with in person, or a chance to have an awesome Christmas with some other people who don’t have other folks around.”
You might also choose to head out into nature or volunteer at a community lunch provided there are no stay-at-home orders, binge on Netflix or just ignore the day altogether.