OK, perhaps I’m just being Scrooge-like, but I simply can’t get into it this year. My kids are grown up, there’s little incentive to decorate things that then just have to be un-decorated later on, and the money situation, while better than most people’s is not the greatest. There’s no company holiday parties, since they have little profit and are preferring to spend it on the people who work there, which is understandable and fine.
Maybe we’ve forgotten how to have a good time without spending a lot of money. I used to love all that stuff even when we had no money. But these days, I go in the stores and just see more cheap crap from China I don’t need. The most fun I’ve had so far was going to an artist’s sale and shopping for jewelry, pottery, hand-woven goods and the like. But those kind of sales are few and far between. We end up doing most of our shopping online, and having things shipped, which hardly feels like shopping for anyone. The kids have their college finals and so they aren’t into the spirit yet, either.
The most fun I’ll have is probably taking Darwin out for pet therapy, maybe putting his Santa hat on him and wearing mine. We may take some peppermints to hand out, maybe print some photos if him in his Santa hat.
But really, I’m just ready to celebrate the Solstice and Christmas, and move along into the next year.
What are you doing to get in the mood this year? I’ve put my Christmas music on my ipod, but it’s not working….
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To get myself in the “proper” mood, I’m threatening to strangle the mechanical Santa Claus at a local store. It has a motion sensor device and every time someone walks by it, it starts singing Christmas Carols.
I’m with you on strangling the mechanical Santas and reindeers. Can’t stand them…
I can sympathize though the feelings aren’t so strong this year. Our only decorating are the wreaths on the front and back doors and the cards that are (and will be) taped on the wall. Since we don’t entertain we don’t need any more. I am no longer working retain so I haven’t had as much exposure to the extended Christmas season of the market place. Maybe, sometime, the season might go back to a normal seasonal holiday. I can only hope.
I hope we get beyond the retail Christmas, too. The gifts are not the things I remember the most from my childhood Christmases — it was the more relaxed feeling of the season, the deepening of family relations and the warmth of those get togethers. Now it has become hectic and all about the presents, and I think that destroys it for many people.
I am feeling a lot the same. I can hardly wait for the Solstice to finally see things getting brighter, but otherwise, Christmas changed for me when the kids grew up and even having grandchildren, it’s not the same. I am not trying to get in the mood for it but just get through it. It is especially weird to be in Tucson which means I am not likely to send out any Christmas cards. I think more and more people weren’t wanting to do it anyway. I used to do Christmas letters to share our family’s year; but so many don’t like those. Then last year I gave a photo of our family together but this year even though we were together enough times, we never took one of those photos; so it will be a year of no cards, I think.
I celebrate Solstice, too. I tis the light moving back into our lives that is the real meaning of the season. Even those who celebrate Christ should see that — babies always make us hopeful for the future. Again I think online cards might work well. My thought when I don’t send cards (and few do anymore, really) is to honor people throughout the year when I am thinking of them with an unexpected card or letter. I think that means more to people…
Sad to say I am with you. I just canceled Christmas after talking to my single mom. daughter, who had to sell her car and buy a cheaper one because she can’t find a job.
I sent her two checks and one each for my granddaughters. Money is the best gift this year. So, even if my back heals and I am up to traveling, I will not be going anyplace for Christmas. Everyone here have their own families or will be gone so there is no incentive to decorate. I am not even sure I will spend the money sending cards.
There are lots of nice free places to send cards online if those people have emails, Darlene. I hope your back feels better soon and that your daughter’s fortunes will pick up. I feel like the new year is going to be one where we begin growing again, and things will begin to become better.
I’ve decided rather than decorating so much, I will simplify, clean things up, change things around so that they feel better for me and more comfortable for everyone around me. That’s going to be my gift this year, to myself and to everyone else — learning to make my life flow more easily and open up to the flow of life around me and within me. Namaste…