Democracy is not the only thing that dies in the darkness at WaPo. Enter, the spirit of Christmas because WaPo wants to kill that, too.

We have read multiple missives about how to avoid, alienate and jettison family members and friends after they voted for a racist-nazi-dictator-orange-man. The collective left, with not an original thought in their heads published "survival guides" for the holidays and beyond for dealing with "dumb, uneducated family members" and how to be the "better person in the room". Now, WaPo has a new spin on spending Christmas alone: it's all about self-care and "re-writing your script":

WaPo Staff Writer, Sydney Page, interviewed three people who are "celebrating and luxuriating in their holiday aloneness."

For some, the holiday travel and the headaches that go along with planes, trains and automobiles are just not that appealing. Take Brian, the first person interviewed, for starters. This 37 year-old man opted to drink eggnog, watch Christmas movies in his jammies and get dressed up for a nice dinner later that evening that some poor schmuck who had to work on Christmas Day served up just for him. He just couldn't see traveling to Mississippi to see his fam because, the last time, "it was a let-down".

It ends up being a lot of work. I love the holiday season, but I always feel a bit let down on Christmas Day that it's not all I hoped it would be. Even though I love my family, and my family is super close, there are always going to be moments of stress that come with all of us being in a room together for multiple days," he added. "The fact that there was none of that was beautiful."

WaPo's Sydney Page muses that Brian is part of a growing number of "introverts" who are opting out of "high-pressure gift exchanges and the caroling or drunk relatives". These who are avoiding family get-togethers in favor of "self-care" say spending Christmas alone is "empowering" and "underrated".

The best Christmases I've had in my adult life have been the ones I've spent alone. It can be a really empowering experience."

So says a lady named Liz, who spent her inaugural Self-Care Christmas alone in 2022. She gets up in the morning, goes to a workout class, grabs her coffee, goes home and video-chats with her family across the country and cooks comfort food. She finishes the night with a puzzle.

The only perspective from any of these grown adults interviewed by WaPo I somewhat understood was Shannon's; a 25 year-old NICU nurse who is treating herself to a trip to New York City. After spending Christmas (and New Year's Eve, New Year's Day and beyond) in a NICU 2005 and and into 2006, I have come to understand the sacrifice, the miracles and the heartbreak these nurses experience. You see, my son was born on Christmas Day of '05. He came out kicking, screaming and peeing while I was knocked out because I was on my deathbed. I was awakened by my doctor in my face, who beamed when she told me how I had to get over half of my blood volume replaced but my little baby boy was 3 pounds, 11 ounces and had an amazing set of lungs and screamed for two whole hours as he was poked and prodded and assessed by respiratory therapists and Neonatalogist fellows (the plus side of being at a teaching hospital for my care.) The nurses were fighting with one another on who got to take care of the cute little baby boy in the Santa hat who was breathing on his own in POD C. They wanted to care for the little guy who was, for sure, going to make it. (If they could see him now!) Exhausted beyond belief and in pain from a major incision in my lower abdomen, I did not care. My husband and I wanted to spend every single second we could with him. My husband and I rang in the New Year with Martinelli's cider by his side while he lay in his little isolette.

The irony that I had a baby on Christmas Day was not lost on us.

Christmas isn't just about gathering with loved ones, of course. Christmas is a time to anticipate -- and then celebrate -- the arrival of the Savior of the world, who ransoms mankind from our own sin and, yes, selfishness. You don't have to have a house full of people to appreciate that gift. But you do have to face your own moral failing and need for rescue by the Son of God. Reflecting on that need, and on the reality that almighty God became flesh and gave Himself up on a cross to rectify it, fills most people who aren't total narcissists with gratitude, joy, and a desire to share that goodwill with others."-Elle Purnell, The Federalist

It could have gone another way. God had mercy on us and gave us the best gift ever.

Our son will be 19 in just a few days. We just came from Arizona and visiting my parents where we racked up close to 500 miles on a rental car for four days of travel. Last year, it was uncertain if my 81 year-old father was even going to make it with his heart condition. We spent years across the country and a few across the Pacific Ocean in Japan, where neither one of us saw our parents. I wanted to be near our family those years. Now, we realize they are getting older and, as God affords us our health and well-being, we need to soak up that time with them when we can.

All too often, we perceive a need for the activities we brand as 'self-care' when our real need is much more serious than lowering our stress levels. There's nothing wrong with going to see the Rockettes or taking some introvert time. But if Christmas boils down to some 'me time' for you, you're missing the entire point. No matter how tanned, rested, and moisturized you are, no matter how much you 'luxuriate in your aloneness' and lie to The Washington Post about how great it is, you can never provide yourself with the Christmas gift you most desperately need because ultimately, you are a sinner who needs to be saved from yourself."-Elle Purnell, The Federalist

My father will always interrupt and ask follow-up questions of my husband before he gets a chance to answer the first question. My father-in-law will forever buy the 20-dollar tool set that nobody needs for the guys' Christmas Eve gift exchange and someone, every year, will be saddled with it. We will all roll our eyes. But family time is priceless and it's finite on this spinning orb of ours. WaPo can talk all they want about "self-care" on Christmas. Are relationships work? Is tolerating some family members work? Sure, it is. But work has been done on The Cross, too, which is the one thing WaPo and this world in general forgets.

Photo Credit: File:NativityChristmasLights.jpg:derivative work: Crumpled Fire, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons