[katsarecool]

Originally Posted by JustLovelyJenn

This will be the first time I will ever spend thanksgiving alone... well, almost alone. My kids and I will be here, with my brother and his wife. Just the 5 of us. My parents are both leaving to visit relatives. My dad to Arkansas and my mom to Utah.

I did invite someone up for the holiday, but I don't think it will happen. I'm actually a little bothered by this. This holiday has always been about family for me. Spending time together playing games, watching movies... whatever it is, but always together. I don't even want to do it at all... but my mom is getting my kids all worked up about it with craft projects and talk of menus and such, which makes me feel worse.

Sometimes holidays are over rated. We are supposed to be totally enjoying them; afterall that is what we see on TV and in other media that we are supposed to have a wonderful freaking day. And sometimes we just don't feel like getting into it and try to live up to expectations.

Maybe ask your kids what they would like to do. Maybe they might come up with something that sounds like fun for everyone but without all the work and expectations.

A few months after my mother died; it was time to do Christmas for my kids who were between the ages of 16 and 9. I was dreading it. So I just asked them what they wanted to do. They came up with renting a cabin in the mountains; foregoing all the ususal stuff including a lot of gifts. Well we did it! And that holiday stands out in my mind more than most. We still had to do santa for the nine year old but my daughters both helped me pull it off for their first time doing santa and it was fun.