Anne,
You have come close to home on this Friends in my case are better then relatives . I have two that are mother's that are more toxic then toxic waste dump . My mother died last March and I do miss her , but I have lots and lots of friends and making more friends all the time. I have relatives had have caused me so much pain and verbal abused my mother that I wish them them nothing but the worse in the new year.

This to shall pass when they die on day and I am waiting on that one . I don't feel like Christmas this year can cannot get into the mood at all . Husband was in the hospital last year with a hernaited disk and then had surgery and now we are going down that road again he has a hernia , which is his fault for not doing as he was told to do to prevent it.

So, here I am spiting nails and can't get myself out of this rut to cook any cookies or cakes this year and this is the first time . Wow! are we sounding off , this feels so good for once and glad that I am not alone.

I have sounded off way to much . Oh, well

Renee

Renee, it's okay to sound off. You could use some support. Believe it or not someday you will get to the point where you do not wish "nothing but the worse in the new year" for those who were butt-heads to you. Someday you will have peace and serentity to just feel neutral towards them. But this year, you are angry, and sad, and mad that your mother died, and all the rotten relatives that made her passing even harder on you. It sounds to me that whatever you do this season, you might do something especially for you that no one else can take away. What do you like? A massage? A manicure? A visit to a chapel? or some sanctuary? Whatever it is, just for you.

Great advice Lynnie.
And I like that coasting on imperfection idea too Smile!
All of you ladies are wonderful and so smart!

A rather interesting comment from my husband this morning...we spent most of the morning putting up the tree. It's an onerous job any year, but this year it seemed particularly frustrating...untangling the branches, trying to fit them in so that the tree fits into its very tiny corner (we can't put any branches in the back at all, and have to secure those branches to show in the front so that the tree looks half decent). Untangling the lights. Spent at least an hour trying to figure out why none of the strings of lights were working. Etc, etc, etc. We finally gave up and took a shopping break, then finished when we came back. So it looks okay, but a bit lopsided, definitely a prime example of "coasting on imperfection" if I ever saw one!

Anyway, as we were sitting there contemplating the lopsided but beautiful results, hubby said, "next year, I'd like to forget about the tree, put a small table in there (he'll build one to custom fit), buy and set up a beautiful nativity scene on the table and then buy a very small (perhaps ceramic) tree to fit. Then we'll just put all of the gifts under the table."

I was stunned, and delighted by his suggestion. He said he'd rather spend the money on a beautiful nativity set than another fake tree, and would rather the nativity be the focus point than the tree. My husband is not a very spiritual man, though he does come to church with me. So this was quite a surprise suggestion coming from him - and one I fully intend to follow through with!

Oh, Lynnie,
You are so good to me and thanks I needed that support that you have always given me in the past and now again. I have a right to be angey when they have then everything away from me firt the furniture and her china and then trying to take her sole also.

Something do come through today , I got a call from the Alz Association that they want me to do some mailing for them .
We have visited a another church keeping within the same religan and have made new friends.

Oh, Lynnie I have not been able to get though to your email address . Do you have a new one now. ?

Thanks ,
Renee

Eagle Heart, give your husband a kiss and a hug b/c that is a lovely idea!

Eagle, you keep planting those seeds, and see how the Lord grows them! Love it.

Eagle,

How special...I gave my daughter the nativity set that her Dad and I made before she was born...in fact he was working on the stable when I told him I was in labor with her. It was always her favorite so I gave it to her as a wedding gift. It was so special to see it displayed at her house last week.

Dotsie, I love that image of "planting seeds" when it comes to spirituality. You know when you garden, it tends to be a rather quiet, contemplative act of love - digging the earth, dropping the seeds/bulbs in place, carefully covering them with more soil, faithfully watering and tending to them over the next weeks and months until they finally break through the earth. That's how I seem to be drawn to share my spiritual faith with some people - slowly, gently, care-fully, patiently sowing seeds of possibility, planting food for thought just when the soil is most thirsty and receptive, backing off so that the seeds can unfold on their own when the time is right. I've heard the Christian call to evangelize for my entire life and have often felt guilty for not being more out-spoken. But God has shown me time and again that He does do some of His most powerful work through the gentlest sowing of seeds and possibilities in the hardest of hearts.

Jane, Nativity sets do tend to evoke such special memories. I spent years giving my best friend a beautiful hand-made stained-glass nativity set - it was very expensive, so I could only give her one piece each birthday and Christmas. It took me years to complete the set, but oh, what an heirloom that set will someday be for her son, (my Godson) who already has put his "dibs" on it.