Welcome

As I type, it's five days before Christmas. Everyone's in hard-sell, forced jollity mode. There's a hum of anticipation in the air, with an undercurrent of panic as everyone wonders whether anything will get done on time. On social media, everyone's counting the days.

Lots of people love Christmas, and the culture I and many other English speakers live in make it a pretty big deal. For those of us who find Christmas a difficult time of year, however, it can be hard to escape. It can feel like everyone else is happy and excited except for us, and that we're wrong or broken for not acting as cheerful as the people around us. Some even accuse us of ruining their fun.

There are all kinds of reasons not to enjoy Christmas. Some of us have difficult or non-existent relationships with our families. Some are recovering from bereavement. Some might be legitimately angry that our religions are not treated with equal respect, or feel that we are further marginalised at this time of year. Some spend the season having to hide who we are out of fear of rejection. For anyone these things apply to, Christmas is less about celebrating and more about surviving.

It's easy to feel bitter about these things. I do, too. So I've made this blog for us. It's not anti-festivity. It's not hating on the season. It's just a place where we club together and help each other get through. I will post nice things - short stories, music, self care tips and similar - and I invite anyone reading this to submit suggestions or guest posts.

We're halfway out of the dark, friends. We got this.