The Christmas Spread...

It's feeling like with each Christmas season, my list of cards and gifts for relatives and friends gets just a bit smaller.

Stuff I'll miss or regret this year:

• Christmas Gift Exchange and dinner with my sister and her kids. This will be my number one Christmas bummer from now on... I miss them all so much.
  
• Buying presents for my parents. They're long gone (but always loved and never forgotten...)
  

Stuff I'm looking forward to and am thankful for this year:

• Christmas Gift Exchange and dinner with my wife's family (they're really my family too). This is the best time, with lots of laughter, jokes, silly faces and funny photos. I can't wait.
  
• My first cup of Egg Nog and my first mince meat tart. Those tastes often "lock in" the old Christmas feeling...
• Christmas Eve or Christmas morning: on one of these, my wife and I will exchange our gifts.
• On Boxing Day, my wife and I will do our Boxing Day tradition: Watch a movie trilogy - either Lord of the Rings or Star Wars.
  

...well, at least the "thankfuls" outweigh the "regrets". I'm going to suck it up and donate some money and unwanted goods to the needy. Doing something for someone else is the antidote to feeling blue over your own little problems.

No matter how bad you feel, there's always someone else who is doing worse than you, so help them already...

As for the somewhat shrinking card and gift list, I'll add a few new friends to that too...