Thanks for writing this; you’ve finally helped me put words to what I’ve seen in a childhood friend that I could never quite understand for well over 40 years. Her constant need to escape the holidays in her home town and rush to others’ home. I could never understand: why can’t she just stay home and create her very own traditions?? Where is her driving need coming from?? I’ve never so much understood another person from another’s writing, the way this piece did. Thanks for the raw transparency—and I hope in letting it all go, you do find peace and joy in the absence of those rituals and others’ definitions of rituals that are not universal. I hope you’ll write more about this!! Cheers and peace!!