Tag Archives: Christmas

Family, Christmas, expectations and that sort of thing

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This Modern Love column Carolyn S. Briggs really held my attention and brought back some old feelings about family, holidays and expectations.

Consider the opening:

MY three vegetarian, activist, urban, multi-degreed, agnostic, adult children have rejected Christmas as a consumerist sham of a holiday, one in which they will not be participating. Oh, they’ll take the day off and drink organic wine, but they won’t be buying presents, putting up a tree, baking cookies, lighting candles or decking any halls. There will be no taking of a family picture for their card and no sending of that card or any other.

My parents didn’t have a Christmas tree this year. When I visited for Thanksgiving, my mother gingerly broached the subject.

“How would you feel…if we didn’t have a tree?”

Continue reading →

Good intentions, no stamps

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I meant to send Christmas cards. At least I thought about it.

Cards

I sent a few to clients through Treat.com (which is the coolest) but then…yeah. I lost focus.

I also didn’t have any stamps. Still don’t. It’s a problem.

Sending paper cards isn’t very green anyway, is it? Don’t get me started about the banality of digital cards.

The real issue? I don’t see the point. Most of my world is on Facebook. I see the fantastic trips, the wedding photos, the new houses, the babies and the kids they grow into. It’s wonderful. But it negates cards.

I’d tell people not to send me cards anymore but that would be rude. And I don’t like feeling left out either.

Do you send cards?

Don’t forget Sandy

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I passed this sign approximately 100 times pre-Sandy.

Now it’s a good reminder that people are still hurting on multiple levels.

image

If you want to help, here are a few ways to consider.

  • Shop at a local business in a region affected by the storm.
  • Connect directly with a family in need. Here’s one option.
  • Check out New Jersey Needs, a clearinghouse organized by @bookgirl96
  • Donate to the Humane Society
  • Give to the Brooklyn Recovery Fund
  • Support Long Island’s Island Harvest