Riversong

I hear a lot of people getting depressed at Christmas,,,its hard to afford gifts in this economy. My family has not done gift giving for years as far as "spending" money.
Aside from the real reason for Christmas ,,its way overated,stresses people out and is a financial burden..
At our house we have a meal,sing together( I play the piano,,,my son and grandsons play the guitar),we trade home made goodies and just hang out.
One thing my sister and I always did(she is deceased now) is through out the year we would see something at one anothers house that we liked and comment on it and at Christmas we would surprise each other with one of the items.That was our personal little tradition,and I miss it now that she is gone,but my daughter and I sometimes do that.
Another thing my kids did(years ago when they were small) was on Christmas eve they would snuggle up beside the Christmas tree,and sleep there.That started out of our house being cold and them sleeping near the woodstove,but it turned into a tradition,and I slept there too(I was a single mom,so we did things differently than most anyway).My kids still talk about "tree night" and tell their kids about it.
When people ask me if I have my shopping done yet,I just smile. For those who can afford it,God bless them,but for those of us who cant,,,make your own traditions and just be thankful .No fighting crowds,no standing in return lines,no stressing over what to get for who,,,so on and so on!!! Wheee!!!!