Many people tend to get depressed at Christmas-time, and I think I know why. It's because Christmas comes with expectations of joy. One source of these expectations is the songs and images we're flooded with at this time of year, but part of it is personal: we have magical childhood memories we want to recreate.

Depression takes hold when we compare the present reality to these expectations. Chronically ill people get a double-whammy: not only can't we relive those childhood feelings (because we're grown-ups, and we're probably misremembering anyway) or live up to the media images (because they're made up), but we can't even accomplish what we used to be able to. We're comparing the present to the (often recent) past, and coming up short.

So, self (I sure hope I'm listening), here's the game-plan this year. I'll decide which holiday traditions give me Christmas joy, and spend my energy on those. I will skip the ones that take my energy and offer no pay-back. These calculations will be completely personal and subjective, and that's OK!

Abby