For many people, the Holiday Season is anything but. Rather than an enjoyable, relaxing and rewarding experience, the Holiday Season can be angst ridden, depressing, mindless, stressful, anxiety fueling, guilt tripping and boring to tears.

Although alcohol is the Holiday Season’s traditional way to subjugate these decidedly negative stressors, marijuana is less debilitating and far superior in its legendary ability to make tolerable what otherwise would be intolerable.

Marijuana is also a savior for those who can handle Holiday Season events with equanimity but are not into all this cuddly family stuff with unrecognized 2^nd cousins once removed, obnoxious little kids running wild, aunt Ethel’s needlessly graphic account of her latest operation and a plethora of opinions that pre-age the Enlightenment.

Recognizing these situations must be endured due to social requirements that you cannot get out of without upsetting those who are somewhat near and dear, getting stoned does make them more tolerable. If the marijuana is really good, even the most tediously mundane Holiday Season function might actually be entertaining from the somewhat altered perspective really good marijuana provides.

For those who actually enjoy the Holiday Season as “the happiest time of the year,” marijuana can make it even happier. Like going to a movie or a museum, many people find that attending Holiday Season events like office parties or family gatherings are even more enjoyable when they are stoned.

For some unfathomable reason, a minority of people insist on dragging the mythological roots of the Holiday Season into the picture. Not content to attend religious services by themselves, they guilt trip and sometimes even threaten family members into accompanying them. If you are in one of these situations, marijuana can turn a high church service into a high camp event.

If you are really into these religious roots, there is good reason that Rastafarians and others use marijuana as a religious sacrament. Marijuana can expand the mind and perspective. Really good marijuana can produce visions and visions have long been associated with transcendental religious experiences.

On a more down-to-earth level, there’s controversy over whether it is more environmentally friendly to use an artificial tree or a real tree. The answer is not simple as multiple factors are involved such as how far you drive to get the tree, how it is disposed of and how long you use the tree. Whether you use real or artificial, there is a significant carbon footprint as over 33 million real trees and almost 10 million artificial trees are purchased in the U.S. every year.

You can avoid the controversy and the guilt associated with creating a carbon footprint that comes with utilizing either an artificial or real tree by utilizing a marijuana plant. That’s right a marijuana plant! What could be more symbolic of the Peace on Earth and Goodwill to All mantra that is ostensibly the essence of the Holiday Season than a marijuana plant gaily decorated with ornaments, lights and popcorn strings? Creating harmony and understanding is one of the most beneficial attributes of marijuana ingestion.

There is also the family fun of harvesting some of the buds from your Holiday Season marijuana bush and enjoying them with friends. Smoking and eating pine needles with friends and family just isn’t where it’s at, but smoking and eating marijuana is always where it’s at Holiday Season or not. This also enhances the symbolic Holiday Season tradition of sharing - in this case sharing with those less fortunate who do not have easy and affordable access to marijuana.

Another Holiday Season tradition that marijuana can improve on is suspending a poisonous parasitic plant called mistletoe in doorways and then soliciting a kiss when you catch a person under the mistletoe. Unlike mistletoe whose romantic powers comes from myths, marijuana truly possesses romantic powers so its use in a doorway makes sense.

How much more passionate the kiss will be and what it might lead to if the tradition includes taking the bud down and smoking it with the person encountered under it. With no carbon footprint, that would be an ecological Xmas tradition that could surely turn into a most memorable Holiday Season event.

Lanny Swerdlow RN LNC