Among Friends

[CalminHeart]

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@rms1954 wrote:

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@bargainsgirl wrote:

I am already so tired of Christmas.  Sure seams like it all started way earlier this year.  All holidays seem meaningless anymore with all the hoopla and commercialism...

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If you choose to look at all holidays as meaningless it's because you choose that persepective.  

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You have no idea why someone struggles through holidays. To think it's just a choice is minimizing people.

Perhaps you'd like to be held captive at gunpoint on Christmas like I was and have Christmas trigger PTSD every year.  Would that make you warm and snuggly?

Or what if your dad died on Christmas. Would you feel like jumping for joy and partying the next year?  That's not how I felt.

2 of 5 kids will go hungry in my state on Christmas even before current events. Does that make kids feel Christmas-y?

A little empathy and thinking about others is a better outlook.

[UpNorthGorgy]

@CalminHeart  Thank you for the meaningful post. Holidays can and are a "trigger" for depression, bad memories and pain.  You went through ******! I am so sorry to hear of your ordeal! I can not imagine! No words. 

The Holidays are another  yet alone time for me for now, 24 years plus no real family to share it. Friends have their own family activities, health issues, and concerns. I have had to get used to it and find my own peace and ritual.  I find ways to cope. I bet other posters can relate to your post?

[Cakers3]

@Junebug54


just wanted to add you understand what Christmas truly means.
Our gifts were symbolic of the gifts from the Magi to the Christ child.
To this day the 3 Kings are my favorite and yes I know their visit happened later. It was the humility of the Magi that always stayed with me. I used to collect Magi figurines.
We didn't squirm and wish the Mass would end quickly.

The Mass was always about the birth and the priests would always wish everyone to be safe going home and celebrate the gift of the birth.

Yes gifts are wonderful. We didn't have piles of gifts either.

If we raise our children to recognize the spirit at Christmas and at always (as Scrooge learned) then gifts before or after a service will not cause angst and future trips to a therapist.

Children are more resilient than many people realize. If taught the "why" it's done this way it will make the gifts a celebration, not an expectation.

You are did just fine. Your children, your choice, your tradition.

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and be well.

[Oznell]

@Junebug54 ,  you were teaching something very beautiful to your children.  @Cakers3 has expressed it eloquently.

For some reason, I don't remember our services being held on Christmas Day, although there was a Christmas eve service.  But, we're Protestant and we all know how renegade THAT can be, ....   

[geezerette]

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@Roscoe the Rascal wrote:

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@Junebug54 wrote:

This may seem cruel to some but when my kids were litle and they woke up CHristmas morning we  went to Mass before the gifts were opened.

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That is how I was raised.  When we got older midnight mass.  Part of my great memories.  In the morning we did gifts and then in the afternoon went to my aunts and grandpas place and did the meal and more gifts.  

My husband and I did Christmas Eve and mass.   He was raised doing Christmas Eve.  So we did our thing then so the next day we could go to my moms.  

Now with my daughter and family we do mass, meal and gifts my house Christmas Eve, her house Christmas Day.  

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Traditions get established for many reasons.

In my case, it was because my father had to work Christmas Day.  So we went to Christmas Eve church service, and us kids had to get up early the next day so that my father could watch us (and join in) opening presents before he went to work.

Even after he was no longer required to go in on Christmas Day, we still celebrated this way since it had become our family tradition.

[Q-Checker]

@bargainsgirl  The spelling in your post heading is interesting. Was it intentional?

[Mz iMac]

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@Junebug54 wrote:

This may seem cruel to some but when my kids were litle and they woke up CHristmas morning we  went to Mass before the gifts were opened.

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@Junebug54  Do they still follow your tradition?

My town's Christmas Mass is midnight.  There are no more masses till the following Sunday.

[MoJoV]

Christmas commercialism makes everything look so perfect.  The perfect tree, the perfectly wrapped gifts under it.  The perfect family in front of the perfect fireplace.  The big expensive car with the big red bow on top. Most people don't have all that.  I see things costing $40-$50 called "stocking stuffers".  It all just gets to be too much.  My Christmas prayer every year is, I have everything I need, just don't take anyone away Lord.