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Minds Without Borders

A thoughtful look at how culture, society, politics, media and economics affect us all.

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Christmas Magic Doesn’t Make Itself: Women are The Tired, Burned-Out, Unsung Elves

Maybe it’s time for the ‘elves’ to quiet quit Christmas

9 min readNov 23, 2022

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Christmas is magic for little kids. For women, not so much.

We’re the uncredited elves, and it’s time for us to quiet quit Christmas.

It’s expensive. It’s stressful. It’s a source of clutter and bills and sugary food you shouldn’t be eating so much of anyway.

It exhausts women and it really fucks over the poor.

I’m not trying to be a Scrooge here, honestly. But I’ve tried just about every version of Christmas, from overdoing it to doing nothing, and I have figured out a few things to help you out.

First, note the weird paradox.

Even people who have trouble paying their bills probably don’t want or need anything their family circle is likely to be able to give them.

With the exception of children and young adults, most of us don’t need any more stuff. But people who desperately need a new roof or money to see the dentist end up instead wasting money on gifts that the givers struggle to pay for and the recipients probably never would have chosen for themselves.

Minds Without Borders
Minds Without Borders

Published in Minds Without Borders

A thoughtful look at how culture, society, politics, media and economics affect us all.

Michelle Teheux
Michelle Teheux

Written by Michelle Teheux

Lover of literature. Former newspaper editor. Fascinated by everything. Contact: [email protected]. To buy me a coffee:

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