marie:

I am sure you will get used to this new way of celebrating xmas with love of your life.at our house xmas is also any other day. we do get gifts for kido but hubby never waits till xmas day to allow him to play. he starts playing with his xmas gifts right away. initially I used to find it weird now I agree y wait till xmas let him enjoy now itself

Asha

Marie,

Keep in mind that may also be a bit symptomatic of a stage of life. When your kids are young much of the season's focus is energy generated by the great anticipation of the mysterious visitor who you must shop for to prepare gifts. In sprinkling the fairy dust to create the magic and wonder of Christmas, it very easily gets in your eyes.

My sons were never even allowed to check the tree unless they woke me up first. At that point I almost believed we needed to check to see if he had come. There was nothing like the look in their eyes when they saw he had.

As they got older I begged my older son not to ruin the magic for my younger and got him instead to buy into creating the magic. He really had just as much fun doing that. By the time my younger was 12 the older insisted we tell him before we caused him to get beat up.

You're right you will get used to it we don't necessarily like to, but we all do.

Enjoy the Christmas season and if you can catch a glimpse try to see its magic through the eyes of a child.

Maria :mwah:

Marie,

The season of Christmas is about your heart. William and I are not really into the decorating and presents. But, we do take this time to comtemplate the reason for the season. It is a very religious time of year. WE enjoy the church things. This year I will buy gifts for friends and caretakers and my staff at work.

But, all in all the house will be the same. I do not plan on gong up into the attic and bringing down decorations. I want to relax as much as possible.

Stroke survivors are miracles of life. I thank God that we have survivors and that they are all doing so well.

Ruth

I too love Christmas, but my husband would prefer not to have a tree. I am luckly that my sister feels the same way I do and is willing to come over and help me with the decorating this year. I would feel very low with out my tree at Christmas. I did all my shopping online this year so far and that has worked out well. I plan on using gift bags to wrap most of the gifts with and the ones that won't fit in a gift bag my sister said she would wrap for me. So I think I have it handled with a little help. If you are able maybe you could help out somewhere that does things for people at Christmas or during the Christm season. That might give you back some so what you miss.

Isn't it funny how Christmas keeps coming, time fly, we get older but don't look it????...Is it memorex or is it real???

I too am having trouble with the holidays. This is Brue's favorite time of year starting from Halloween. It has taken me this long to finally come to the realization that things have changed. I plan on light decorations and the tree, I don't know. I have to be able to handle it myself and just the thought-well you know. Gifts will be limited due to the financial restraints we are all facing. But the very worst part of this is I really don't know if he even cares. I think that's the hardest thing to face. Good luck to you. Make the seasons bright even if only for yourself.