Letter to Santa

Dear Santa,

So I was thinking... let's just skip Christmas this year at my house. Really, it's okay. You have a lot of other places you need to be. I have had a crazy year and to be honest with you I am not up to it. I don't have the energy to put up the decorations much less get a tree. I don't feel like hanging the stockings or sending out cards or baking christmas goodies. You see... my parents are ill and their dementia is so progressed they don't even know it's Christmas. My boys are now young men and they will be fine on their own. Big Guy will probably go to his girlfriends house and spend the day with her large family. Younger Guy is living on his own in another state and won't be coming home because of school and work.

It all goes by in a blur anyway. And everything is such a hassle. The crowds. The traffic. The constant non stop Christmas muzak and the bell ringing of the Salvation Army volunteers. I don't have the energy to do all that. I really don't.

So Santa skip my house this year.  We'll try for next year.

Happy New Year and all my best to Mrs Claus.

Love,

Mary


Dear Mary,

My dear it does sound like you have had quite a year. Therefore you are in critical need of Christmas.
Christmas is what will lift your spirits. Trust me, I've been doing this a while.


Send a card to your parents. They just might enjoy looking at a pretty picture... in fact, instead of sending a gift that they probably won't use or want, send them a photo of you. They might not recognize you on Christmas but they will have a glimpse of clarity one day and what joy it would be if they saw your smiling face.

Let me also remind you my dear gal that even though your sons are grown now, they still want the traditions that you started for them as children. Please get a Christmas tree.... it is a must. Then put that little red wagon with the Christmas Snoopy and Curious George sitting in it together as they have been for the last 24 years. Hang the boy's stockings up. Just because the boys are now young men, they are and always will be children at heart this time of year.  They will be disappointed if they knew their first grade ornaments they made were not hanging on the tree. You will not want to break that tradition becausen you are not up to it.... next year it will be harder to follow through if you skip it this year. 1 see it happen all the time. People skip a year and then they never go back to enjoying Christmas the following year like they promised they would.

Go out and be with others. Try humming along to the Christmas carols, smile at the cashier and put change in the Salvation kettle. You will surprise yourself.

And Mary, one last thing. Don't try and have it all so perfect. I know for a fact that even Martha Stewart buys store bought cookies every now and then. It's not about the perfect gift, or the house decorated just right. It's not about having the perfect meal or  wearing the right dress to the office party.
It's about being with family and friends. People you love and love you back. And Christmas allows that to happen.

Christmas is that unexplainable wonderous time where everything is magical. You don't want to miss out on that.

I will be by your house on Christmas Eve because I don't ever let anyone skip Christmas!


Ho Ho Ho

Santa Claus



This post inspired by Mama Kat!