I'm home

That's my attitude too. I have much happier holidays now!

Tina

sigh.....ok, you nailed it one! Sarajane

Sarajane's Polymer Clay Gallery

I have been allowing this outlook more in myself the last few years and it really does help.

On the other hand, we just delivered the last of the Christmas cards from 2002 when our friend visited last week.... Sarajane

Sarajane's Polymer Clay Gallery

Tis true but I left some just for you. ;=)

Heck, no, Kathy. :) It's just a busy time right now - I know I don't respond half as much as I would like to these days because I am so busy. (((((((((((((((((((Kathy))))))))))))))))))))

This hits the nail on the head. I am normally very moody and very busy this time of year, and having chronic depression and anxiety adds to the stress. The commercialism surrounding the December holidays is like a thorn in my side usually, because parts of my family are quite materialistic and really make a big deal about spending a lot of money and buying a lot of crap to show eachother up. I love what you do to help ease the negativity, Kathy. Giving small things to people who don't expect it adds joy all around. :) This year, all the women I normally buy for are getting handmade watches. All the men are getting bead pens. Handmade gifts are the best - a little bit of my soul is in each one, and they don't cost a fortune to make. If they don't like it, they can kiss my beadmakin' a$$. LOL.

Oh, and a lot of people really get physically under the weather this time of year, too, so they might spend less time socializing on and offline.

I would respond a lot more if there wasn't a sleeping baby on my arm most of the time!

You havent done anythng wrong. Most of my posts pass without comment, it's just that I usually post so MANY it seems like I get a lot of responses... definitely just quantity, not quality, in my case!

Yeah, actually, I think I am too. For instance, I have some inkling that Tink needs to go to the doctor, but not WHY (and is she well? Tink?) and other whole threads I read references to but never actually *see*.

Sweetheart, ME TOO. Except not the dad part, my dad was not allowed in my life (my mom. Long story.) but although some of my *very* young Christmas memories are pleasant, by the time I was 10 or so they had deteriorated. My mom perhaps tried to maintain some sort of happy tradition but what it felt like to me was this intense *pressure* that "everything will be all right if WE ONLY ADHERE STRICTLY TO THE CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS" and so I get knots in my stomach even thinking about it. As an adult the last straw was when my mom decided to "punish" me for wanting to spend the early morning with my new husband instead of get up at 7 to rush over and open the stocking presents... because waiting until after breakfast would be a violation of the CHRISTMAS TRADITION. I didn't want to stress out on the morning of my one blissful day off of retail, I didn't want to get up early, and I wanted to share a calm Christmas morning with my husband, so I was excluded from the "family" Christmas. My mom made sure that I continued to feel like an outsider for the rest of the day, and that was the last year that I even made a pretense about liking the damn holiday! It has only ever meant stress, grief and obligation to me, and so now I try to make it as relaxed as possible; the whole point of the day for me is that nobody HAS to do anything and nobody HAS to go anywhere! My kids can spend the whole day buck naked for all I care, I'm not going to make them get dressed up! They can wear satin and pearls if they feel like it, but I'm not going to make 'em. My husband likes to relax too, and it's a huge relief to him to not have to rush from household to household. The house isn't going to be cleaned and the dinner dishes probably won't get washed until the next day. I can make a big pot of mulled wine and everyone who's old enough can get slowly smashed, lying around on the carpet digesting pie.

Kandice, this attitude is why I love you!

What a silly argument! I'm not Christian, and I haven't celebrated Christmas as such for years, but banning the public celebration of Christmas is no different from banning the public celebration of Hannukah or Yule or Kwanzaa! As far as I can tell, no public money is spent promoting Christmas, so it a matter pf personal freedoms to be able to make it as gross and inflated a festival of blatant consumerism as it has become! LOL!

Ok, I hope I haven't just started the argument here...

LOL thanks!

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from Kalera Stratton :

]As far as I can tell, no public money is ]spent promoting Christmas, so it a matter pf personal freedoms to be ]able to make it as gross and inflated a festival of blatant consumerism ]as it has become! LOL!

----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)