Christmas Changes

The presents were all opened Christmas evening. My youngest son nineteen and his fiancé were the only ones able to be with my wife and myself. My two grandsons and daughter live too far away to travel this time of year and my oldest son is in the same predicament. We remain thankful for the season and having a healthy and loving family but without the benefit of small children and seeing the wonderment in their eyes it remove’s some of the joy during this time of year. Our parents have passed away and with their passing so did the traditions we grew up with. Christmas for us has changed drastically over the years, the way we celebrate and give thanks to the one responsible for the season. Christmas seems to becoming just another date on the calendar. Today is the twenty fifth of December; I think I will take down the Christmas decorations on the twenty seventh. We will pack them all away and look forward to re-capturing some of the magic that seems to be slowly slipping through our grasp next year. From our family to yours MERRY CHRISTMAS.

Merry Christmas Nutter.

Nutter, Abe, Merry Christmas to you both.

Have a wonderful day.

Vickie

Merry Christmas, Nutter.

Merry Christmas to Nutter, Dick, Abe, and Vickie. This list could grow and grow, but that is all right.

Carol

Merry Christmas A W, Abe, Vickie, Dick, and Carol. At this point, the list is like old times - a different kind of holiday get-together.

Ann

I hope everyone had a beautiful day with family and friends. With our fast-paced lifestyles of today, it's wonderful that we take at least one day to celebrate the tradition of getting together with loved ones.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

I keep forgetting that in Germany there are two Christmas days.
I had planned to go the stores today and then was told, once again, that the stores are all closed due to the second day of Christmas. It actually works out great where families must decide with which outlaw or inlaw to spend Christmas.
There is a side benefit. I have the choice of eating two Christmas dinners or having one big dinner and one liquid binge.
I'm not sure which of the two Dick would choose, however based on his posts, he most likely would have Jackie do a combo.

We start celebrating the week before Christmas to get around to all the family. But this year, the weather has interrupted many plans. We have had 40 inches of snow so far and the usual amount is 37 for the whole winter season. Last year there were over 100 inches of snow and we are well on our way to break that record.

Today is our anniversary. It seems by German traditions, we got married on the second day of Christmas. It was a bad decision, not to get married, but to get married the day after Christmas, but the Marines decided upon that date for us.

Happy second day of Christmas, Abe.

Carol

Happy second day of Christmas to everyone!

Like you, A.W., Christmas for us has lost much of its 'sparkle'. With no little ones around, our celebration consisted of a large dinner. Our weather was so bad this year, we did not even get a tree put up. But the lace edged trees that surround us were as beautiful as any we would have put indoors. Al has spent the last few days trying to shovel snow fromthe roofs and keep the animals fed.

And our families are so widespread that getting all of us together would be impossible!

We will do our 'Christmas shopping' in a few days when the roads clear up. Maybe we can find some 'deals' on things we need!

Go for all 12 days of Christmas, Abe. Our lights stay up the whole time.

Malcolm

My second day was recovering from the first day. Took a long walk, it was very cold with the wind blowing. But I think I burned off much of the excess I ate yesterday. Everything was going fine today until I received word that my brother-in-law passed away at 1:25 PM EST. His passing was expected, as discussed on a different thread, but it is still sad. The operation killed him. That's the last I will say on this matter.
Life goes on.

Our hearts are with you and your family, Abe.

To be honest I was kind of bummed about Christmas this year - just me and my two grown girls, and the rest of our family 3000 miles away, and I was throwing a pretty nice pity party about a week ago. Our weather too had been crummy, but, we had power (some folks around here didn't). As it turned out, we had a beautiful day together, one of our best Christmases ever. We phoned the out of towners, and spent the day together hanging around - carols at the piano, preparing turkey, eating, playing board games. For the first time in years, I had a space of time in the afternoon to sit down and read a new book - something that in the days of entertaining a big family gathering never happened. My tree and lights will stay up - and on - through to New Year.
This year was really nice, and I'm thinking I'll do it all again next year.

Abe: So sorry to hear the news about your brother-in-law. I have been through long term illnesses resulting in death as well as the sudden and unexpected. It is never easy, we pray you and your family will find comfort.

Christmas: Thanks everyone for the holiday wishes. My family has been speaking about taking a holiday cruise next year. We want to do it about two weeks prior to the holidays so the little ones can be back home for Santa. Looking forward to next year. Peace everyone

Abe, my condolences to you and your family. Expected or not doesn't make it any easier. My prayers are with you.

Our Christmas has been very quiet, but I personally am enjoying it. This last year has been so busy, I hope I can slow it down this year a little.

It is nice to have a couple of more days before having to go back to work.

Vickie

Thanks Vickie