Do you look forward to Christmas every year?

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   DDEposted 10 years ago

   Do you look forward to Christmas every year?
   
   During the festive season you most likely want to share this time with family and good friends  do you  mostly enjoy this time of  year  and why?

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   Cristaleposted 10 years ago

   I enjoyed the winter season and the festive holidays until I lost my son. Now, I am more like the Scrooge.

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      Billie Kelpinposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Cristale,  I didn't read your comment before I wrote mine.  I regret that I didn't because I probably wouldn't have posted it. My heart goes out to you. May you find the most comfort you can. Let's say bah-humbug together until the pain goes away.

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      DDEposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      It must be hard that way   but I hope you find it in your heart to keep the tradition and  find a way to be happy. I feel for you thank you.

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      Cristaleposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you for your supportive comments. I really appreciate them during this holiday season.

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   Billie Kelpinposted 10 years ago

   I have to force myself to find joy at this season.  People from divorce in general have a difficult time at this time of year, I think. It takes years to look back at old Christmases with a former spouse and your little family with fondness.  Much emotional energy is spent on either trying to focus on the here and now, figure out what ever went wrong to have destroyed the family you were working so hard to build, and face the terrible discomfort of the logistical shuffling and sharing of children, even as adults.  It has become, for me,  something to just "get through".  I try to focus on all the positive, lovely memories of Christmases past and present, try to make things for loved ones that they'll enjoy, and more recently try to be thankful for the wonderful life I DID have in the past with my former husband and concentrate on being all I can be for the man who rescued me from all the pain, my present husband.  But it's work, and if I had my choice, I'd like to fly away to some remote corner of the world and just forget about it all.
   There is mainly one purpose I have for writing this comment.  For every married couple that is experiencing some negativity in their marriage, work hard to turn that around.  Read how to restore your love. Learn how to be a more giving spouse.  Look at old pictures together this Christmas and realize that what you think you might have lost is not lost at all.  And if you're a person involved with a married person, be brave enough to let that go.  I've been divorced for 23 years and the pain is as poignant as it was when my husband left. Like a "Mother Against Drunk Drivers" I would hope that in telling my story, you, some dear but unknown friend, would be spared the pain that divorce can bring.

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      DDEposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I agree with your comment this time of the year is the hardest of all times thank you for sharing  this comment.

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   duffsmomposted 10 years ago

   No, while I love the reason that the holiday exists-Christ's Birth-I get stressed over gifts and getting things done, watching the money go out. It is too much.

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      DDEposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      It is true about the wild spending trying to make everyone happy with gifts I prefer a  happy time with all and I avoid gifts love is all I need and to be with people to enjoy this time thank you

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   Sparkleaposted 10 years ago

   I have always loved Christmas, especially when I was a child.  I loved Christmas vacation from school!  We would go sleigh riding with friends, ice skating, and our church would have a festive party.  I LOVED all the Christmas music, the caroling, the hot chocolate, home made cookies, and the celebration of the birth of Christ.
   
   Now fast forward to 2013. 
   
   I LOATHE, LOATHE, LOATHE "Happy Holidays."  Christmas has become an 'argument' over whether or not to offend others when putting up lights, displaying a manger scene, employees in stores saying "happy holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas." 
   
   I even heard that the song, 'Deck The Halls' is now being changed to "now we don our 'fun' apparel" instead of 'gay' apparel! 
   
   Christmas has become a commercialized gift giving free-for-all instead of what it is meant to be: A celebration of the birth of Christ, our Savior of the world.  The "holiday" commercials and the volumes of ads filling our newspapers are just plain annoying.
   
   I listen to the Family Life Network on the radio all year long, and I listen to the wonderful Christmas music to keep me aware of the real reason for Christmas.  Christmas is supposed to bring families together, but now so many families are at odds and not speaking to each other that the results are fractured families.  My son has not been inside our home for 12 years.
   Now my nephew sent an email saying he and his wife will not be joining us this year.  He has NEVER ever missed a Christmas in our home.
   
   So, to answer your question, "Do I look forward to Christmas every year?"
   Yes, I do, because I love to give and to be reminded of the meaning of Christmas- that without Jesus Christ, I am nothing.  But it's not the same as when I was growing up.  I miss my childhood Christmases.  They were so innocent before people started getting so offended.   Blessings, Sparklea

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      DDEposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Well said and  Christmas has always been my best time of year.

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      Sparkleaposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      THANK YOU SO MUCH DDE I am humbled and grateful.  God bless you real good, Sparklea

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   elayne001posted 10 years ago

   I do not anticipate the holidays because it is the most stressful time of year for me. I never feel like i have enough gifts not have enough food for those that might stop over. I believe in Christ and his atonement for me, and am happy to celebrate his birth, but the holidays have become way to commercialized by money hungry vampires. I wish we could just be loving and charitable to each other without feeling the need to shower others with expensive gifts.  Also, I have twelve grandchildren, and while I love them so much, I feel that they are so spoiled these days with the latest technology and they feel entitled to them rather than trying to earn them. Call lme the Grinch of Christmas, but I do my best and it never seems like enough.

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      DDEposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you and hungry vampires is a good description

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