“’Tis the season to be jolly.”   So why are so many of us down in the dumps? 

            When we’re young and our children are little, we’re told that we’re trying to do too much.  We shouldn’t worry if our homes are less than immaculate, and we should cut back on the frenzy of shopping and cookie making.  We should be sure to take an hour out of our busy days to just relax.

            When we are a bit older, we’re still down in the dumps at this time of year and we’re not all that busy anymore.  The children are grown and have left home, there are no grandchildren yet, our longtime friends who have spent every holiday with us are off visiting THEIR grandchildren and our aged parents are in a nursing home.  Our high cholesterol numbers make cookie baking a forbidden pastime.  The holiday shopping is all done on-line from an Amazon Wish List.  Other than my shedding cat and TV-watching husband, there isn’t anyone to mess up the house.  AND now that I’m not so busy and not at all tired, I have LOTS of time to relax.

             I am absolutely convinced that the Holiday Blues have nothing at all to do with how busy, or not busy, we are.  I think it has more to do with the shorter days, cloudy weather, lack of sunlight and the long, dark winter that we’re facing.  Would we be feeling so sorry for ourselves if it were warm and sunny?  I’m ready to give the sunlight therapy lamps a try.  I’m tired of being in a funk and if an hour a day in front of a lamp makes me a little more cheerful over the holidays, what a great gift that will be for me, as well as everyone around me.  Now, which lamp should I buy?   Light Therapy