Eagle Heart, please correct me if I'm wrong, but could it be that everyone just expects too much from you? Could it be that you are just plain plum burnt out?

From what you have described, that is how I usually feel after Christmas.

I prepare and work so hard behind the scenes for weeks, just to make everything perfect for others. In the process I usually forget about "moi". And then, after everything is over, I feel let -down and "burnt-out." Like no-one else has even attempted to do as much as I have done. Every Christmas I write poems, the years memoirs, and behind each present are miles of running around and comparing. It all has to be so perfect. As I write this, I think this sounds so sick.

Well, this Christmas, I'm doing something else for the first time. I'm limiting the presents to just one for each from Hubby and me. I always had the feeling that piles of presents under the tree had to be there to fill out the long Christmas Eve. This year if we finish unwrapping our presents in an hour, that's fine with me. Then we can focus on our grandchild and on each other. We can sit quietly together, and not have the constant flying paper and ribbons in the air. We can enjoy one another's company and allow the real meaning of Christmas enter our hearts. This Christmas will be the first Christmas that won't be celebrated at the cost of one exhausted mother/grandmother; me. Phew and Hooray.