If it’s your first cancer Christmas then try and delegate as much as possible – please don’t feel pressure (either from others or more usually from yourself) to do the usual full blown festive extravaganza. It is one day and in the grand scheme of things, no one is going to blame you for taking a back seat and looking after yourself for a change.
Get family and friends to pull their weight and delegate as much as you can. If you are still going through chemo, the thought of cooking and eating large quantities of rich food is not something you are going to want to be doing so either accept an invitation to eat with others on Christmas Day or get family members to do the cooking for a change.
If you’ve just been diagnosed really close to Christmas like I was on 23rd Dec back in 2009, you might find yourself having very little enthusiasm for Christmas at all. If that’s the case, then so be it. Again, don’t feel pressured to put the decorations up and pretend to be all festive if all you want to do is stay in bed and cry. We are allowed to put ourselves first for a change. Family members might not like it but guess what, if they really want a tree and all the trimmings then I’m sure they can manage to do something themselves.
If you really don’t want to upset the family then plan an alternative Christmas day in January, maybe once treatment is over or you’ve got over the initial shock of getting your diagnosis.
You do not have to be strong all the time. We are only human and we all need some time to ourselves and we have to learn to put ourselves first occasionally and those around us need to learn to accept that too.
Remember that WCSUK is here for you every day of the year, and that includes Christmas Day. Our social media and website is open 24 hours a day and we can be reached via our FB page, twitter feed or via the website. We are here for you because no-one fights alone.
Season’s Greetings to you all.
Kaz xx