Anyone else spending Christmas alone?

Kiralynx wrote:For me, this Christmas has more than a bit of stress. I'm getting the Christmas Dinner ready even as I type. It's essential that every thing be what we've had for at least the last decade.

Today is my Dad's first Christmas, in 65 years without my Mom, who died on 29 October.

It was very strange last night to walk up to the door of the church (I'm afraid I'm a Christmas Eve and Easter Morning church goer) and not see Mom where she has been for the last 43 years, dressed in her Christmas best, smiling and greeting everyone and handing out bulletins for the service. Even Thanksgiving wasn't quite like this. I think last night was when it really hit me that Mom won't ever be there, ever again.

Those first few years after our parents are gone can be difficult, especially around holidays. I remember you saying how confused your dad was right after your mom died. I hope he's doing better. He must feel lost without her, after 65 years of marriage. That's a long, long time.

Your dad's very fortunate to have such a loving daughter nearby, although I know that must put a lot of stress on you at times. It isn't easy watching our parents grow old and become more frail.

I wish for you, and everyone here, a very happy new year!

DreamOn

I usually spend the day alone. Not sure why as both my brothers live nearby. oh well. So I make my own plans. Favorite cream cheese and mushroom omelette, watched my favourite Christmas movie "Bernard and the Genie" took a nap, did a little housekeeping and then took a cab to work.

Julie wrote:Do like all the non celebrating people do - go for Chinese food! And do consider keeping a couple of Claritin or something in your wallet just in case.

My husband, son and I just came back from Chinese food dinner! Not alone, but was sort of non-standard for us.

- Maura

My wife and I are both here at home, but not for the same reasons. Here in Eastern Nebraska, we have been in a blizzard warning since about Wednesday evening. I think the worst is over but the wind was nasty, caused a lot of snow drifting and closed roads. Almost all Christmas church services for both Christmas eve and today were canceled in Eastern Nebraska.

Jaylee, I have allergies to chemicals which includes perfumes, perfumed products, and cleaning products etc. Natural scents such as aromatherapy oils are no problem. Anyway, it took YEARS for my family to get that burning perfumed candles, plugging in Glade scented type plug ins, wearing their favorite hand lotion, could make me stop breathing. After I finally wrote a long letter explaining the allergy, the consequences if I try to be 'normal', and the fact that I just couldn't keep risking my health, they started to pay attention. I still carry an EPI pen just in case, but most of them are really good. In fact, some tell me they can't stand other people's houses that have air deodorizers now that they stopped having it in their own homes.

Anyway, just a thought that maybe they could get someone to sit all their dogs for a doggy party, and opt for spending time with you. The dogs will have just as much fun : )

My wife and I are here at the house by ourselves. Ever since the daughter died in 1998 and the Father-in-law died in 2003 we stay home. We were going to go to an outing with the GPAA/LDMA in Arizona and we were going to leave today, but I have been sicker than a dog the past 3 days with a bad cold. The weather over in AZ is supposed to be in the 30's where we were going and I don't need to be out and get sicker so we will stay home.
We had a good dinner just the three of us, my wife and I and of course "Buddy" our rescue we got from the animal shelter last year. (a Shih Tzu) The wife is off work until the 12th of January. We will go some where in the RV as soon as I get to feeling better.
Would you believe that our telephone did not ring even once today. I picked it up a few minutes ago to see if it was still working.

Happy Holidays everyone!

I have two cats, one of whom is diabetic. If I leave town for any reason, I have to find some one to care for them that I can trust to give the diabetic his insulin on schedule. At this point, I am boarding them with the vet - and that gets expensive. When I went to a weeklong business meeting in October, it was about $450. I talked to my sister, who said that she understood. I hope that she really does. So I've been here alone, not only for Christmas, but my birthday (Christmas Eve). That sounds lonely, but it's not. I've had a wonderful chance to relax and get my life in order. I needed to do that, as I'm moving in February.

Allergies... ya got those but nothing so severe that I have trouble breathing.

We have a scented battery operated candle (ya, everything is fake these days) that causes me respiratory grief when I remove it from the case. I seem to have an allergy to scents 'n smells. Doc says in my case it is not worthwhile going through the tests to determine exactly what they are... just take the allergy meds EVERY day and carry on.

One less in the house this year since Molly (our Ragdoll cat) passed away in September. Mom and I both notice the difference. I'm just thankful mom is still around after he hip issue over the summer. Another lady younger than my mom went through the hip operation in October... she is still not walking. Another lady in my mom's circle of friends had a hip operation 2 months ago and is doing amazingly well... same surgeon as mom... same deal... except she did not bother going to the therapy place.

The older I get... the more work and stressful I find Christmas/New Years for some reason. We had the our traditional turkey dinner yesterday. Spend most of the day preparing it. Now we are questioning whether the effort is worth it... who knows... might land up doing something different with less work next year. After all... the holidays are supposed to be a time to relax and enjoy... and not being a greedy little consumer and working til we drop.

Speaking of consumerism. The local cable company have been advertising and calling us for a while now about upgrading the service. Mom has been thinking about that for over a year now. Purchasing the new HD TV was enough to push us to take the plunge so before Christmas we go to the office and put in the order. All is well... installation scheduled for either that day or next. Get home and the phone rings an hour later... cable company says they have no more decoders and the install is put on hold... likely until after Christmas. Hello? We ordered this to have and enjoy OVER the holidays NOT after. I felt like telling them to get the install done in two days or cancel the order... but I was feeling mellow and peaceful considering the season.

Seasons Greetings folks...

Paul56 wrote:Allergies... ya got those but nothing so severe that I have trouble breathing.

We have a scented battery operated candle (ya, everything is fake these days) that causes me respiratory grief when I remove it from the case. I seem to have an allergy to scents 'n smells. Doc says in my case it is not worthwhile going through the tests to determine exactly what they are... just take the allergy meds EVERY day and carry on.

One less in the house this year since Molly (our Ragdoll cat) passed away in September. Mom and I both notice the difference. I'm just thankful mom is still around after he hip issue over the summer. Another lady younger than my mom went through the hip operation in October... she is still not walking. Another lady in my mom's circle of friends had a hip operation 2 months ago and is doing amazingly well... same surgeon as mom... same deal... except she did not bother going to the therapy place.

The older I get... the more work and stressful I find Christmas/New Years for some reason. We had the our traditional turkey dinner yesterday. Spend most of the day preparing it. Now we are questioning whether the effort is worth it... who knows... might land up doing something different with less work next year. After all... the holidays are supposed to be a time to relax and enjoy... and not being a greedy little consumer and working til we drop.

Speaking of consumerism. The local cable company have been advertising and calling us for a while now about upgrading the service. Mom has been thinking about that for over a year now. Purchasing the new HD TV was enough to push us to take the plunge so before Christmas we go to the office and put in the order. All is well... installation scheduled for either that day or next. Get home and the phone rings an hour later... cable company says they have no more decoders and the install is put on hold... likely until after Christmas. Hello? We ordered this to have and enjoy OVER the holidays NOT after. I felt like telling them to get the install done in two days or cancel the order... but I was feeling mellow and peaceful considering the season.

Seasons Greetings folks...

I once spent Christmas with a family that went to a Chinese restaurant and then to double movies. I sorely missed the traditional Christmas and thought they were nuts. Now, after years of shopping, wrapping, cooking, cleaning, some years I remember that day fondly! : ) My hubby and I have decided to scale down and not do it up so grand and that has worked for us now. I am trying to talk him into going to Hawaii for Christmas but he says we have a place in Arizona now, who needs to go where it's sunny and hot : ) Guess I'll have to change my tactics to another Alaska cruise : )))

Paul56 wrote:Allergies... ya got those but nothing so severe that I have trouble breathing.

The older I get... the more work and stressful I find Christmas/New Years for some reason. We had the our traditional turkey dinner yesterday. Spend most of the day preparing it. Now we are questioning whether the effort is worth it... who knows... might land up doing something different with less work next year. After all... the holidays are supposed to be a time to relax and enjoy... and not being a greedy little consumer and working til we drop.

If you want to stick with turkey - our IGA in Montreal has frozen prestuffed turkey breasts. That way you don't have so much to do or left over. Friends of mine say they are quite good and very easy to serve. If you do some planning you can make a lot ahead of time, like tourtiere which freezes well. Then all you need to do on the day is the vegies and potatoes and toss the frozen stuff in the oven.
I also find slow cookers a wonderful implement. You do all the prep in the morning when you are fresh, toss the stuff in, turn it on and go away. When you come home the work is done and cooked to perfection, just add bread and a salad and you have a great meal. Most of the recipes freeze well in small containers so there are always tasty meals in the freezer.

BlackSpinner wrote:I also find slow cookers a wonderful implement. You do all the prep in the morning when you are fresh, toss the stuff in, turn it on and go away.

Good ideas, BlackSpinner. On holidays, I whip the mashed potatoes a few hours before mealtime and put them in the slow cooker on low. One less thing to do at the last minute!

And I use the slow cooker for soups, stews and other meals too. I love that there's no effort around dinnertime--get it all together in the morning and forget about it until it's time to eat!

~ DreamOn

BlackSpinner wrote:If you want to stick with turkey - our IGA in Montreal has frozen prestuffed turkey breasts. <snip> Most of the recipes freeze well in small containers so there are always tasty meals in the freezer.

I look at the pre-ordered meals and can only sigh deeply. With my food limitations, if I don't cook it, I don't have a Christmas dinner.

My Dad suggested, instead of my knocking myself out, that we go out for Christmas. Unfortunately, any restaurant which is likely to be open will have a set meal, no substitutions. Which means that Dad would be paying $45-65 a head for me to have 3-4 slices of questionable turkey (probably injected with modified food starch and margarine and likely contaminated by the bread stuffing in the turkey) and a tossed salad for which I would bring my own dressing and shredded cheese. I wouldn't be able to eat any of the hot dishes, the cranberry sauce, or any of the desserts.

However, I suggested to my husband that next year, we should start in October, and each weekend, do a pre-cook of one of the main dishes. All of them freeze well, and we can easily do enough for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Then on THE DAY, the only thing I would need to fix is the turkey itself, and the egg nog ice cream.

I did suggest to Dad that we could go out for New Year's, so he told us to pick a restaurant, and we'd go!

BlackSpinner wrote:

Paul56 wrote:Allergies... ya got those but nothing so severe that I have trouble breathing.

The older I get... the more work and stressful I find Christmas/New Years for some reason. We had the our traditional turkey dinner yesterday. Spend most of the day preparing it. Now we are questioning whether the effort is worth it... who knows... might land up doing something different with less work next year. After all... the holidays are supposed to be a time to relax and enjoy... and not being a greedy little consumer and working til we drop.

If you want to stick with turkey - our IGA in Montreal has frozen prestuffed turkey breasts. That way you don't have so much to do or left over. Friends of mine say they are quite good and very easy to serve. If you do some planning you can make a lot ahead of time, like tourtiere which freezes well. Then all you need to do on the day is the vegies and potatoes and toss the frozen stuff in the oven.
I also find slow cookers a wonderful implement. You do all the prep in the morning when you are fresh, toss the stuff in, turn it on and go away. When you come home the work is done and cooked to perfection, just add bread and a salad and you have a great meal. Most of the recipes freeze well in small containers so there are always tasty meals in the freezer.

Ah slow cookers - they are fabulous! I have a huge one that I can do two large chickens in or a very small turkey. It even has a hole that the temperature gauge can go through into the meat which stops cooking when the meat reaches a preset temperature - then keeps it warm! Love it! http://www.amazon.com/Hamilton-Beach-33 ... 594&sr=8-1

Hi Jaylee, I'm sorry to hear of your Christmas "woes", and that you spent the day (ultimately) alone. That in itself however is not bad, as others have said, you can enjoy that sometimes, especially if you've normally a very busy life.

But what saddens me about this, and many other things - and it seems to be more and more prevalent lately - is the lack of care and thoughtfulness shown by others. Sure, from one (their) viewpoint, your allergy is YOUR problem, not theirs. You deal, take your medication, 'get over it', whatever is required.

From another viewpoint, it is callous of your family and friends not to have considered this. Allergies aren't fun, can be potentially deadly, and we don't take them lightly, which non-allergenic people seem to feel should be the case. Where's the consideration for others that used to be shown? The fact that you actually had to leave the celebration should have woken people up the fact that they were effectively choosing the animals over you. In my world, not the way I'd have gone!

My daughter-in-law is potentially fatally allergic to garlic. We don't judge her for this, don't blithely go on as if she's just grandstanding or attention-seeking, and we certainly don't cook anything with garlic in it - in fact, I no longer have it in the house. That's just the way it is, and should be. Occasionally I'll accidentally buy something containing garlic, which will exclude her from that dish or meal, but it is certainly not intentional, and she knows this. She does not ask for special consideration, quite the opposite in fact.

Jaylee, I hope you ultimately had a lovely day, and enjoyed the unexpected solitude!