Reply #7: Yep, us too, went the whole distance, No Shopping [View All]

[WebeBlue]

this year, no gifts except the gift of sharing family time with each other. No tree, no decor, no nothing of the usual Christmas acouterments. Stayed strong in resolve even when it came to the 13 grandchildren.

And it felt Great to finally, at last, break entirely with all the traditions and see what happens. And what happened was that family getting together in a more true spirit of the holidays was far more meaningful..no guilt on anyone cause in the same spirit, we expected no gifts from anyone either, nor did we want anything this year. (Except the one thing, which we did get, the Very, Merry, Kerry Christmas).

I will be writing a children's story for the small grandchildren whose father has deployed to Iraq and will do so again very soon for second tour in Iraq. I will write the story to tell them the truth in a way children can understand and explain why sometimes a "gift" is not wrapped in a box with ribbons and sometimes Grandma has to make her gifts by working on a concoction to make the bad king go away.

For the older grandchildren, I have given them something they can use to express their own feelings, as bless their hearts, they understand a lot more about what has been going on and young though they be, they know that Kerry and the election means something important to their and their parents (even their grandparents) lives. Gift of blogs, gift of painting, gift of poetry, gift of writing, gift of conversation and discussion.