Advertisements
If you know me, you know that I LOVE Christmas! OBSESSED with Christmas. I start planning in the summer. Everyone of my children has a themed tree. We have a 12 foot tall Christmas tree in the family room(we call it the beast), a tree on the sideboard that only has picture ornaments of the kids that I decoupaged. There’s a two foot tree on top of the fridge that has gingerbread men and peppermint ribbon. Upstairs is a family tree made up of ornaments the kids made, keepsakes from vacation and ones my mom made for me. It’s a total of nine trees. Outside is equally as decked out. There’s even a 10 foot tall inflatable elephant with santa on his back. I really love Christmas but…..Christmas with grown up kids is different.
They live all over the country, they have to work on the holiday, or they have significant others who have families and it’s only fair to divide the holidays. We don’t have grandchildren yet (one day but hopefully not for a while). It’s quieter. We also live far from our families so there isn’t extended family celebrations to be absorbed into. I usually combat the quiet by inviting friends that also live far from their families over. We eat, drink, watch football, play games and be merry.
This year several of our friends are going home for the holidays. I’m also into less STUFF and more EXPERIENCES. I don’t need another purse or another pair of shoes. This year is a different year.
So, we are debating a trip to NYC. It’s my favorite city in the summer and I have been dying to see it in all of it’s Christmas glory. We were thinking of leaving on Christmas Day or maybe the day after. I’m deep into researching Christmas in NYC. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Is it the same experience right after Christmas? Or is it better to go before? Does anyone have any tips for ways to make empty nester Christmas more merry and bright?
