The winter holidays come around every year in their seasonal sequence. For some people, they are full of fun, food, and family. For others, this isn’t exactly the most wonderful time of the year.

For better or for worse, the holidays hold memories for us all. For me, it’s about lighting the menorah, eating homemade potato pancakes, and enjoying the Christmas lights of Candy Cane Lane, even though I don’t celebrate that holiday.

At the same time, not all of my holiday memories are positive. I spent much of last winter visiting ill family and friends in the hospital. When I was in university, a friend passed away over the holidays. Although I did not find out until classes resumed, for many years I could not enjoy New Year’s Eve.

At the same time, I could probably say the same thing about my memories from any time of the year. There are good things that I remember and not so good things that I wish I could forget. What separates the holidays is that there always seems to be this unspoken expectation that we’re all supposed to act jolly and bright, no matter what. That’s a lot of pressure.

So, I made a decision to view the holidays as really not that much different than other other time of the year. The holidays are special, but so is the blooming of the first flowers in the spring or the fun of the summer festivals. Every time and situation has its plusses and minuses. The trick is to choose to hold on to happiness.