I feel like the Grinch. I just can't get into the whole Christmas thing now that my kids are grown. I used to decorate and bake all month. Now I don't even want to put up the tree. I'm not depressed about it, it just seems like too much work for just me. I have grandkids (2) but they have their own tree and stuff at home. So how has your Christmas changed since your kids grew up?
2007-12-01 16:06:36 · 26 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Cultures & Groups ➔ Senior Citizens
I'm with you. When I had children at home I went 'all out'. Every room was decorated, every cookie baked, every gift either handmade or personalized. Frankly, I'm over it. Last year I put up a few tasteful decorations, no tree, invited all the singles and older couples from work to a Christmas dinner and it was wonderful. Everyone made a homemade contribution to the meal and no one had to do too much. It was great. This year I'm not sure what's going to happen, but I won't be putting in a whole lot of effort and that's okay with me.
2007-12-01 17:19:30 · answer #1 · answered by Grace 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Our holiday season is still evolving. My husband and I have always decorated, even our first Christmas when we were tight on money, it was just the two of us-he worked Christmas Eve and I worked Christmas Day. I don't think we've ever had the same type of Christmas or New Year's celebrations every year. We've always had at least a tree....and stockings for the kids...but everything else is done according to our time and energy that year.
My oldest daughter lives too far away to come home this year. My youngest daughter is 20 (turns 21 in January). No grandkids...at least not yet.
I do have my advent candles set up. The rest of our preparations we'll do when the mood strikes us. We have neighbors, friends, and extended family in the area who will be dropping by. So, we will put up some decorations. One thing we are doing this year is 'culling' our collection of decorations. Some we'll give to younger relatives, some we wll box up for our daughters, and some we'll give to Goodwill. I'm ready for some changes....so this is fun for me.
This morning, when I looked out the window to my front porch and sidewalk, I found Santa's and other holiday drawings. Last night, after I fell asleep, my youngest daughter and a friend of hers used the sidewalk chalk I keep on my front porch (for the kids in my neighborhood and myself) to decorate my front porch, steps, sidewalk and driveway. Those drawings look great! I just can't feel Grinch-like in when confronted with such a gift!
2007-12-02 00:28:19 · answer #2 · answered by ? 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I have those years. Maybe put up a small tree. The first year I down sized everyone got a good laugh at my Charlie Brown Tree..
Some years I feel like baking. Some years. I don't.
I am to old(not that old) to do anything I do not want to do. We have some great bakeries in town that I do not visit enough through out the year.....I hate for them to close down because we all baked (smile)
All kidding a side Christmas is a time to have fun and time for family.....not a time to stress,
As a grandmother our roles have changed,we can still have a nice day without so much of the work and more fun time.If your grandchildren are old enough buy some chocolate milk and Christmas Cookies, invite them to decorate the tree..
You can buy cookie dough ( you know that Smile) Last year I baked . This year I buy. and I do not feel like The Grinch neither are You!
Happy Holidays
2007-12-01 16:47:36 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
I did the whole show! My house looked like a fairyland, LOADS and pounds of cookies, candies, blasting seasonal music. My kids were out on their own by the early 1980's and I still did it. Fresh cut tree, tons of ornaments, wreaths, laurel and pine cones. My daughter has inherited it ALL.
My dear mother died 4 years ago, on December 15. She had been at my home for about 8 months - shortly after she was diagnosed with dementia. It was a terrible and terrifying ride. Mercifully, she didn't linger for years as some do. But she eventually forgot everything, including how to swallow. Anyway.....
That Christmas passed practically unnoticed in my house. Thankfully, my daughter-who is a Christmas child did the whole 9 yards.
Since then, while the healing is better every year, I haven't been able to put up anything....not a candle, nor a tree...nothing. Not depressed, just not in the mood for decorating. I have baked cookies for friends and my kids and grandkids but no home decorations.
2 weeks ago, I was leaving my favorite grocery and spied this lovely 4 foot white "minimalist" tree with 400 tiny little multi-colored lights. It was beautiful. I went to the same store on Friday to pick up a few things...and there it was again.
Yesterday, I went back and bought it. This morning, it is sitting on my low bookshelf, bright, colorful and beautiful...Christmas is back in my house again....
I won't have a real tree and all the trimmings anymore. Too much work to put up and take down....don't want to deal with pine needles anymore... Besides, I gave all the family decorations to my kids a coupla years ago...let them use them..and they do.
So, I have returned to "Merry Christmas" in my little place...and it looks beautiful.
Maybe tomorrow I'll go out and by some laurel.
2007-12-02 06:04:23 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
We still do all the same things, just have scaled it down a bit. Smaller tree, less decorations around the house (many cherished family ones I've already given to the boys and their families), much less goodies in the kitchen to tempt me, etc. Yesterday we put up the outside lights and decorations, so now I'm really getting in the mood. Only one grand' lives close by, and she loves to help me decorate the tree...it's become our little tradition.
However, we are now free to celebrate when we want and how we want. No more getting up a 5 in the morning (lol!), and last year we even spent Christmas Eve and day down in FL. We make our own choices, and refuse to feel obligated or guilty.
Dragon...Christmas at your house must be a ball...enjoy!
2007-12-02 06:25:37 · answer #5 · answered by night-owl gracie 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I know how you feel. My daughter is 31 and lives interstate,and my son is 28 with a 3 year-old daugher. He lives an hour's drive away. So its a matter of going for lunch with my son, his girlfriend and the little one. This child is so spoilt, by the time we got there last year you could hardly get in the door, for all the huge toys that had arrived already. Our offerings got lost in the crush, my son drank too much, and his girlfriend spent the day sending text messages to other people. All this bears no resemblance to any Christmas that I would want to take part in !
This year, I'm downsizing on the tree, and just putting up some outside lights to make the place look cheery. I get a lot of pleasure writing to old friends, and getting their replies, looking at pictures they send. Thats the meaning of Christmas to me. And my best friend, who is terminally ill, wants us to come over for a drink on Christmas Eve. As you can imagine, thats a date I'll feel very emotional about.
So yes, Christmas has changed a lot in the last few years - for me now its more about looking for something good to do. Buying some presents for kids I'll never meet, and putting them under the Charity Christmas Tree at the shopping centre, going along to the Carols By Candlelight at the local school , just trying to capture some of the traditional cheer of the season.
I'm coming to an understanding of how my parents must have felt, when we all left home and would just ring them on the day, and tell them what we'd bought our kids with their gift cheques. And I used to wonder why they didn't bother with a Christmas tree!
Welcome to the quiet Christmas years !
2007-12-01 17:09:37 · answer #6 · answered by Stella 6 · 6⤊ 0⤋
I just have a little table top tree, see the grandkids on Christmas Eve & have snacks. Nothing much on the day of. Can't get into the mood, so try to serve in some way. Had spent a short time in a nursing home for physical re-hab, so I've bought some fleecy fabric to make shawls & lap robes for some of the residents without visitors. It gets cold at night there, the fleece doesn't ravel so I cut fringe or scallops on the edges. Gives me something to do & helps others.
2007-12-01 16:25:53 · answer #7 · answered by okie's back 3 · 5⤊ 0⤋
I would just as soon tone it down a bit, but my hubby loves to decorate for Christmas, so we're off and running. Right now at 7:20 AM he is messing with the lights outside. If it were me, I would have a tiny tree in the window and a wreath on the door and call it good!!
2007-12-01 23:19:37 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
I'm right there with you, Debi. I enjoy seeing decorations at other homes but don't do any myself. I'm a little Grinchy also. I've often stated that I would be happy to go to sleep the day before Thanksgiving and wake up New Years Day except now, I wouldn't want to waste the days ... just transfer them to May or October where I could really enjoy them.
My children give me a hard time about my lack of Christmas spirit and I don't go to their homes for fear of being a wet blanket. I get the attitude, "You're going to enjoy yourself or else!" I'd much rather be in my own quiet home, maybe go to a candlelight service at a church nearby, see a local performance of The Nutcracker or The Christmas Story (Dickens), drive a few streets to see outside decorations and maybe have dinner on THE day with another single.
Christmas now seems too extreme ... too many people, too much buying, too much loud music, too much "Ho, Ho, Ho" ing (or rather "Ha, Ha, Ha"ing), too much partying. Bah Humbug! ; > )
2007-12-01 16:30:18 · answer #9 · answered by Just Hazel 6 · 4⤊ 0⤋
With me it is not the fact that the kids have grown up and moved out. I still decorated the tree and the house. Made all kinds of Christmas goodies.
What has put the skids on me is the fact that I moved back home to be with my parents now and they just don't do holidays at all. It's not that they don't believe in them, they just don't want anything to do with the holidays. I live alone in my tiny trailer right be hide them.
As of right now I have no clue as to what I am going to do this year for Christmas.
2007-12-01 16:46:06 · answer #10 · answered by SapphireB 6 · 6⤊ 0⤋