Replies to '12/13 Holiday Horror Stories'

My Christmas traditions began 25 years ago...

26 years ago, I buried my infant son on Christmas Eve...he died of SIDS on December 22. I had 2 toddlers at home and went home to play Santa Claus that night...it was the most horrid Christmas I ever saw my children experience...not because they lost their brother, but because they did not understand why everyone was so subdued on such a great day. In the midst of my grief, I decided that they would never see another Christmas that was not full of wonder and laughter the way Christmas should be. As the next year progressed, many things happened, one was that I became pregnant again and had a child Dec. 16th of the next year. I was so dreading the hollidays. With baby blues and the anniversary of the death of my son, it was not a pleasant time.

After some thought and prayer, I came to a concious decision to begin new traditions in my family for my children...but basically for me. I began by decorating the house the day after Thanksgiving. I had to get a running start on the depression that set in about the beginning of December. I began using advent calendars and candles, reading Christmas stories each night, and wrapping one present each night after the kids went to bed. I found that by making myself do these things and wrapping myself in the holiday, my mood became uplifted. As the kids would run to see for whom the new present was, their eyes would light up. Many other traditions developed over the years, but it was really just a matter of will to overcome the nay sayers.

Today, my 4 children are adults and they have great memories and wonderful stories of the holidays. I have been around bah, humbug people who say they hate the holidays, that it is the worst time of year, etc. but it is my opinion that you choose to be in a bad mood about it or a good mood and you can allow others to control your spirit or not. My husband hates Christmas and chooses to only be a peripheral part of the traditions. It's too bad that he robs himself of that joy. The rest of us choose to be children for a while!

My Christmas traditions began 25 years ago...

26 years ago, I buried my infant son on Christmas Eve...he died of SIDS on December 22. I had 2 toddlers at home and went home to play Santa Claus that night...it was the most horrid Christmas I ever saw my children experience...not because they lost their brother, but because they did not understand why everyone was so subdued on such a great day. In the midst of my grief, I decided that they would never see another Christmas that was not full of wonder and laughter the way Christmas should be. As the next year progressed, many things happened, one was that I became pregnant again and had a child Dec. 16th of the next year. I was so dreading the hollidays. With baby blues and the anniversary of the death of my son, it was not a pleasant time.

After some thought and prayer, I came to a concious decision to begin new traditions in my family for my children...but basically for me. I began by decorating the house the day after Thanksgiving. I had to get a running start on the depression that set in about the beginning of December. I began using advent calendars and candles, reading Christmas stories each night, and wrapping one present each night after the kids went to bed. I found that by making myself do these things and wrapping myself in the holiday, my mood became uplifted. As the kids would run to see for whom the new present was, their eyes would light up. Many other traditions developed over the years, but it was really just a matter of will to overcome the nay sayers.

Today, my 4 children are adults and they have great memories and wonderful stories of the holidays. I have been around bah, humbug people who say they hate the holidays, that it is the worst time of year, etc. but it is my opinion that you choose to be in a bad mood about it or a good mood and you can allow others to control your spirit or not. My husband hates Christmas and chooses to only be a peripheral part of the traditions. It's too bad that he robs himself of that joy. The rest of us choose to be children for a while!