This Christmas I will be.......

I dont stress anymore!!!!!
 we go for a family picnic just our immediate family and spend some peaceful time at the dam. 

I'm an atheist who despairs about losing original meaning in a sea of consumerism. Focus will be on immediate family, enjoying our blessings, particularly those of small children (I have two grandsons), and perhaps planning some changes in 2019 that will bring us geographically closer.

We are with you there, @SoldierCrab  - we grab a picnic lunch & go to the waterside & after lunch, we put the kayaks in & have a fish - cos from Boxing Day on - it is wall to wall boats on the water & quite dangerous to put kayaks in!   :(    

I think this is the first year we won't have any family staying (unless I find out the day before!! LOL) All the nephews & nieces are now grown up & moved on from 'the beach house' ... 

Family - no stress!, this year will be spending the 25th with loved ones and being grateful for what I have, not worrying about what I dont have, looking forward to my granddaughters 18th birthday in March 2019, and dare I be optimistic,  drugs and new trials available for women and men with metastatic breast cancer -

wendy55

This Christmas I will be... not striving to make everything perfect, and won't be castigating myself if it's not. I'm the only one who can 'do' Christmas in my family, so there's a bit of pressure. But they'll all just have to manage if things aren't the way they've been in the past.

Last Christmas I was on tenterhooks waiting on the genomic test to see if I had to have chemo or not. This year will be a lot less tense!

I'm very different from who I was a year ago, so I'm going into Christmas as a blank page. I don't know how it will be. More meaningful? Less meaningful? I feel a bit distant at these kind of events now, a little removed. So I'm going for no expectations and we'll see what happens.

Actually, I have no idea what Christmas will look like this year.  Last year, it came a few days after surgery and, while the kids cooked the meal, I tried to keep it as much the same as in the past as I could.  But to be fair, apart from the roast, we tend to keep a low-key Chrissy when we can.

My most ardent Christmas decorator at work has just taken a new job. Lovely person but tinselly! At least I won't have to do my grumpy bit about that this season. 

Land of the long lunch at my sister's home this year. Also popping up to Brisbane weekend before the day to have chrissie with my husband's family - we haven't done that for I don't know how long. This year is stress free. I'm actually looking forward to it all (last year i just wanted to see the back of 2017). We don't give each other pressies (except for our daughters and any nieces or nephews not finished school). We all figured everyone had enough of everything. It's just lovely spending the day together. Fresh Christmas tree next week and decorated by our daughters. 

I'm glad that nobody expects me to be the Kitchen Goddess any more; they've got the message that I'd rather spend any energy I have trying to play with the grandchildren - and then calling a halt when I've had enough. Also, I'm not putting up the tree because it always scratches me and I already have cellulitis. The kids already have their own tree up.

It's been an expensive year under treatment - even in a public hospital: parking and fuel the biggest tally. So I'll be limiting the cost of gifts for grandchildren. I'm an atheist too but I follow the cultural festive traditions for the sake of the children. With adults, my new guideline will be, "We don't need more 'stuff'. Let's just spend time together over a meal." And that recognition is more of a year gone by, rather than Christmas.

New Year's Eve is always much more important to me than Christmas. It was always the day when I wrote my journal and analysed the year gone by - my achievements, what I could have done better or differently, what I needed to focus on in the new year. It's important to me to always spend that evening with good friends and celebrate our friendship. This year more than ever, It will be vital to thank the friends who have sustained me this year. As for planning ahead, I'm still in too much of a fog to dare plan. I'm just taking one day at a time and hoping that 2019 will allow me to gradually regain some confidence and emotional equilibrium, as well as physical strength.