What Christmas feels like these days for Boomers....

[NRaleighLiberal]

Just curious as to how you are all doing this holiday season. We've got grown children (26 and 30) - not married, so no grandchildren yet. Family members struggling (both my wife and I lost our dads and our moms are not doing well). Both my wife and I came from families that did Christmas up big (though we were both lower middle class).

Just battling mood shifts this Christmas - first time in 25 years I am not working, the whole commercialism aspect is driving us nuts...

How is everyone else doing?

[Irishonly]

1. My husband and I are disabled

We certainly didn't think we would ever be although we are both getting close to retirement age. My daughter is home for the holidays. She moved to Arizona and she and her boyfriend are struggling. We bought her things she needed so the only surprise is the little stuff in her stocking. Santa Claus Dog comes for the dogs so we got for them.

We both have seen the doctors more this past couple of months than we have for a while. Christmas is lean but we have also learned to live very simply. It was more important for us to get our baby home so in January we are going to buy a bird bath and call it our Christmas.

We learned a long time ago that we needed to keep Christmas simple. When I was in cancer treatment I didn't have the energy to do much. The world survived without all of the cookies and candy I made. I make some and will do divinity for an elderly neighbor. We had gigantic Christmas mornings when we were healthy and working. It's smaller and quieter and more peaceful.

[NRaleighLiberal]

2. Peace and Merry Christmas to you, Irishonly - thanks for sharing...

another DUer that I will keep in my thoughts...



best wishes coming your way from Raleigh!

[cantbeserious]

3. Stopped Commercial Christmas Habits 18 Years Ago - With No TV To Distract And A Few Good Books

It is all over pretty quickly.

[bemildred]

4. +1.

It's amazing how easy it is to just stop, once you make up your mind to do it.

[cantbeserious]

5. Yes Bemildred - What Made The Most Difference Was Foregoing TV

Without that incessant drone of 'Buy This' and 'Do That' the emotional pressure to conform to manufactured social norms lessens dramatically.

[bemildred]

6. Yep, TV is low grade stuff, even the best of it, the rest is like you are paying to be brainwashed.

And it makes you stupid too, turns your brain to mush. Watch TV all afternoon and then notice how you feel?

[SheilaT]

7. Two grown sons also,

ages 24 and 29, likewise not married and no grandchildren. I'm now divorced and live 800 miles away from my previous home, no relatives nearby. But I do have good friends here, and just spent a lovely Christmas Eve with two of them. We had lunch together, then saw the Muppets movie, went to Christmas Eve services at a church where one of them played bells, to their home for a light dinner, then another friend stopped by and we played three rounds of Cribbage.

My health is excellent, my parents are long since gone so I don't have that responsibility.

I also don't have TV, and although I watch as much as I want on the internet, I'm not exposed to as much advertizing, which makes a huge difference. I live rather frugally, and sometimes when I walk through a store or a mall, I'm honestly astonished at what is out there to buy. I love to crochet and embroider, and often give crocheted or embroidered gifts to people. Most of us, myself included, do not need half of the material goods that we have.

[OKNancy]

8. Our families have adjusted to a more practical Holiday time

I had my family here... not all since we are spread out all over the US. I made it more like a party with smoked ham and turkey and then made lots of party foods. Then we do dirty Santa. This year it was "white elephant" Bring something from you home that you have but don't need or use. No junk though. We have done variations on this for a while now. It was fun. Lots of laughs.

My husband's family does the same thing. They liked our idea so they adapted it. So instead of buying 30 presents for the whole clan, we just give away 6 items we already have. There are three in our household; me my husband and our adult daughter who is here for a while until she gets her college debt down a little. For what it's worth, we get along great. So no problems there.

The only gifts we buy are for our household plus our other grown daughter who lives in Portland. Nothing extravagant.

I can't say that our family is in a bad mood at all, and we love to watch TV. Many of the family love to gather and watch football.
My elderly mom and I get together and watch old movies and the period pieces they show on PBS.
Otherwise, I have MSNBC on all day. It keeps me company and I'm pretty certain it doesn't change my mood unless they have a Republican on. If that is the case, I get great pleasure in cussing at the TV.

It was great fun last night at my brother-in-laws house. After dinner we sat around the fire-pit with all the younger members of the family and drank wine, told bawdy stories, and laughed until it hurt.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

9. I'm lucky to be here. Some people would say blessed.

I had a medical emergency Thanksgiving night and landed in the hospital for eight days. I couldn't get my breath. Very heavy panting. Not enough oxygen. Had no chest pain so it wasn't a heart problem. I was baffled.

Went to the ER and I had uncontrolled diabetes and pulmonary emboli (plural of embolism). Blood clots in my lungs that could have killed me, and probably would have done so within 24 hours. They started in my legs as deep vein thrombosis. My blood sugar was almost 700, my oxygen was at 85%.

The doc said that if the clot in the Y of the pulmonary arteries behind the heart had been bigger, I would have dropped dead...*pooff*.

Thanks to a lot of very smart people in the hospital in a big city, I am still here. If I had been in a rural hospital near my home, they probably would not have figured it out or had the resources to deal with it. I was visiting hubby's son in the big city.

My husband and I still have each other. That is the most important thing of all. I'll probably be living here for six months, but that's fine with me.

[Howler]

10. No kids of our own but my brothers bring theirs over.

Last year my little 3 and 4 year old neices brought down the whole tree pulling the candycanes off it. LOL!
This year Mr Howler bolted the tree in And they stripped the whole tree as far as their little arms could reach! LOL!
We do a homemade gift exchange.Even the kids get in on it by drawing pictures.
My little 6 year old niece in Oregon drew the outside of the house with elves,santa, Everything then you flip the paper over and she drew the inside of the house full of presents,stockings,food, the whole shabang! LOL!
I make everybody Tie dye shirts and hats. My brother makes homemade toffee and makes the Hollindaise sauce for our holiday feast.

Its very festive and warm. Commercialism is very overrated.

I hope everyone here has wonderful holidays!

[kjackson227]

11. Things aren't the same...

I'm an empty nester for the first time this year. My daughter got married, so there's only me, my black lab, and cat. I see them often (she loves her mom dearly), but this is another life transition that I have to get used to. ~SIGH~