Ahh, Christmas. It’s a wonderful time of the year. I love Christmas for what it represents and brings out in most people. But it can also be a frustrating and depressing time as well. I guess it depends on you and your situation.
First of all I need to confess some things. I have been slacking a lot in getting something posted over the last several months. I have mentioned in previous posts about my sweet Mother. She has had an impossible year. This has nothing much to do with this blog but will explain why you may not see very consistent posts from me for awhile.
My Mother turned 71 this year in February. She has been dealing with MS for about 20 years which has gotten worse over the last 6-7 years which is the reason me and my family moved to be close to her. This year on her birthday she slipped in her bathroom and broke her leg right above the ankle. To make it worse, it was her “good” leg, whereas the other one she tends to drag. After going to the hospital it was discovered that she also had breast cancer. After setting her leg with some external bars and screws, she was sent to Salt Lake City to the Huntsman Cancer Research Hospital. I was there with her for a couple of days which is where I actually wrote the first few posts for this blog from her hospital room. However, they weren’t able to do much at the time because of something not being right with her kidneys or something. They sent her back to Idaho to a skilled nursing facility in the meantime. Unfortunately things did not go well for her there either and within 36 hours of getting there was sent back to the ER in a comatose condition. The nursing facility did not get her on the proper oxygen breathing machine when she sleeps so she was not getting enough oxygen.
So after going back to the hospital in a near-death situation she was sent to a different nursing home. It was decided that the cancer was too large to remove so they wanted to try to shrink it first with chemo therapy. I was not thrilled about it knowing that chemo is hard on a healthy person’s body, but my Mother is aging and with MS, her body was already weak. Needless to say the chemo gave her pneumonia which again almost claimed her life. So back to the hospital for awhile then back to the nursing home to try Keytruda, a chemo alternative. It was better on her body but in the end did not give the results she needed. The cancer by this point had spread around to her back, which is why they can’t remove it because she won’t have enough skin to cover the wound.
So, after being away from home since mid-February, she returned home the beginning of Dec 2019 on hospice care. During this entire process I’ve tried to spend as much time with her as I can. Which means the little free time I had to begin with I have been spending with her to enjoy the time she has left. This is why I have not and will not be writing consistently for some time. We don’t know yet how long she has, maybe 6 months, maybe a year, we just don’t know. She still never regained strength back to her legs so she is bed-ridden and we use a lift to get her in and out of bed and someone has to always help her to clean and change her. I love my Mother so very much and it is difficult for me to see her suffer through this. My Father passed away in 2003 so we help with all we can for her. The good news is that through it all she has held her spirit high and is not sad or depressed about her situation. She is a great example to all who know her.
BACK TO THE BLOG
Now that I’ve got that out of my head, let’s get back to this. Truth is I’ve had a lot of ideas that I’ve jotted down and hope to eventually get time to get to them.
Christmas is a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, although he was born in April, but that’s outside of the scope of this blog. It is a time when people feel more generous and are willing to help others. That’s what I love about Christmas. There was even a time during WWI where the German and English and French forces stopped fighting on Christmas day and instead sang Carols and exchanged whatever trinkets they had with them with the enemy. The fighting continued the next day but even during a time of war, people respect the Holiness of this day.
CHILDHOOD MEMORIES
As a kid it was usually a time we would get to travel to visit Grandparents and Cousins and of course Christmas break from school. Great food, fun presents, and spending time with family. Maybe watching favorite Holiday movies like How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Charlie Brown Christmas Special (not sure of the exact title; but the one with the tiny Christmas tree), of course, taking from the title of this post, A Christmas Carol (I personally preferred the Mickey Mouse version), and even one of my old favorites, A Christmas Story (“You’ll shoot your eye out kid”). Even if you’re not a Christian, you still can’t help but feel the Christmas Spirit in the air.
HUMBUG
Fast forward 40 or so years to today and things are quite a bit different. The generosity is still there, but the reason is missing. Christmas has basically become a continuation of Black Friday. Another day I actually despise but didn’t have a chance to write about it this year. Buying gifts you can’t afford to make your kids or other people happy has become the point of it all. And compared to when I was a kid, good gifts cost a lot more too. One of my favorite childhood toys were Transformers. This was back in the early 1980’s when they were huge. They were well made, out of metal and lasted forever. And they were affordable for the time. Now, they are cheaply made from plastic and if you want the “cool” ones that fully transform, they are very pricey. Too much to give to a 6 year old who will probably break it in a day.
But that’s not the worst of it. Have you tried going shopping any time during the week before Christmas? Everyone waits until the last moment to go shopping for gifts or to get whatever is needed for the Christmas meal. I went to a neighborhood grocery store a few days ago and it was busier than Wal-Mart. I hate it. I do not like crowds and I hate standing in line for long periods of time.
Be sure to plan ahead and get everything you need, including food, at least 2 weeks before Christmas so that you at least have a chance to avoid losing your mind. Honestly, the crowds wouldn’t be so bad if the general population would be polite and not act like idiots. And I am in a very nice, small, family-oriented community. I remember being in Omaha where it was much worse. People were likely to shoot you if you took the parking spot they wanted.
#LIGHTtheWORLD
So, with all that off my chest and into your brain, remember above all, Christmas isn’t about gifts. It isn’t about spending lots of money for stuff you don’t need. Keep your sanity and spend as much time with your family as you can. Memories will last forever, gifts only last until they break or get forgotten about. But your debt to buy those gifts may last longer than you would want. It’s okay to buy gifts and bring a smile to someone’s face, but just don’t lose control because you want to give them everything. Teach your kids the importance of being financially smart and maybe also teach them humility. In years past when our young kids get new toys, we ask them to donate some of their old toys so that other kids can play with them. And so they have space for them to not get cluttered with too many toys. Where possible, try making a gift so that it is personal to the receiver. They will usually treasure that more than anything purchased anyway. If you want some ideas of kind things you can do for others check out https://www.comeuntochrist.org/light-the-world and also https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/church/news/2019-light-the-world-effort-focuses-on-serving-others-as-jesus-did-one-by-one?lang=eng
With that, I bid you adieu and wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year’s! Be the Light for others to see.
And if you are the type to make New Year’s resolutions, be sure that your personal finances are at the top of that list. Whether it be to get out of debt, or at a minimum to track your expenses and start cutting back on unnecessary things. Make 2020 the best financial year.
