That Christmas Feeling

I've been noticing that the Christmas season has come around yet again; and I've yet to go out and do some of that famous Christmas shopping - yikes! - again!  Yeah, I've left it a little late this year.  Even my Christmas cards aren't out yet.  I wanted to send out a bit of a news letter to some of my friends but it's not working out the way I thought it would... might yet put it onto a disk and pop it into the mail with some photos on it too; like I did last year.

However, I do love this time of the year.  Despite the heat and the storms that lurk around this part of the world I enjoy the family aspect of it all.  It's something we don't get to do very much; only do at this time of the year.  Most of the time, my friends only hear about what I've been up to at this time of the year and realise how busy my years are becoming as each one passes.  

And this year has been particularly busy - with next year becoming even busier.  Have you noticed that some years, Christmas just doesn't feel like Christmas... there's something about it that it doesn't?  I have and I think it's because I normally don't have enough money to buy the gifts I'd like to have to purchase for my family, or go out to the places I'd like to go to without having to rely on my family so much.  It's not until the big day that I feel that Christmas Spirit of giving to everyone it starts to kick in; and I don't know why it happens that way.

This year, my Mum's been baking Christmas Cakes for everyone - it's as though she's taking orders like a real bakery; everyone just loves them.  However, they're disappearing faster then she can make them.  For me, my money's disappearing faster than it's going into the bank.  I'm hoping Triple M does the big survey it did last year; and hands out the $100 Westfield Voucher (and I tell ya, that really did help me last year; even if it didn't show up on time, I did end up buying exactly what I needed for this year including my calendars, diaries and other bits to kick off this year... and still had a bit of money left over on one of the cars).  This year, I don't have all that much money in the bank as I've been saving up big to go overseas.  Yes, this year is my first year of saving to go to America; and I've gone above my expectations of $500... I've hit the $600 mark instead!  How great's that?  So, I'm a hundred dollars ahead of my goal already which means it can only get better.  But it also means that sewing machine I received for my birthday will be getting a workout as I'll make a few book baggies for my family and back off on Christmas spending on them.  It'll be another year of hand-made goodies; just like a few years back when I knitted a few things for them.

I do hate it when that Christmas spending rush doesn't do it for me; when I wish I could spend more on my family than I actually can.  But it's the family togetherness I cherish more than anything now, the food my brother cooks and the laughter that we really should be enjoying more than anything else - not how many presents we can accumulate over the Christmas period.  It's family that makes it all that much more special and the bond that holds us together that makes us work as well as we do.  For me, I think about the poor people around this time; the people who don't have anything at all.  I think about them more than anything.  It's because I have a more than they do and - at times - I feel horrible about that.  So, I give to the K-Mart Wishing Tree each year now so somebody out there is given something for Christmas - so they don't miss out - and they can say they received something lovely from somebody who thought about them.

So, what about you?  What do you do to keep the Spirit of Christmas going on in your family and your life?  Do you give to a charity?  Spend more time with your family, who you don't see, over the Christmas period? Enjoy your time with your kids?  Until my next post, take care, keep warm and safe and remember, I'm always here.