and been having trouble for a long time. He's 42 but still lives at home, sometimes temporarily employed (seems to be when he feels like it). He wouldnt come to my house for Christmas last year so she drove herself and my mentally handicapped older brother 1.5hrs each way. They ended up getting lost. This past Thanksgiving he spent the day in his bedroom.

We'll be seeing my mother the wk before Christmas. She wants to be home Christmas day w/my younger brother. Im putting together a Christmas scent basket for her which I'll tell her to hold until Christmas day. There's a Christmas fleece, Christmas candle, Christmas w/the Kranks DVD (to occupy some of her time), Christmas cookies, and Christmas music CDs. When we meet for lunch I have other items for her.

Im thinking of how I can spend my Christmas day at home with my A husband and our son. The Disney Christmas parade is on in the morning. Any other ideas?

Hello Barbara,

What a sweet idea of that basket to do for your mom :)  My husband, kids and I have spent many holidays by ourselves over the past 25 years. Even some where my husband had to work on christmas. We learned to make our own traditions with food, acitivities and fun :) I didn't even know we were doing this until they got a little older and started saying things like, where is this food or that food and isn't it time to play this board game or go to church? That is when I realized that just 4 people could enjoy the holidays with each other and have their own traditions :) Form some of your own now with just the 3 of you. We even all got in the kitchen together and made the food and cookies. These are some of my fondess memories :) OH, and for some reason board games became a big thing and even today we get out the board games even with company or when we are away. Each year we get a new board game too from Santa LOL. My kids are 21 and 24 now :) Yes, 3 people can share a holiday alone and still have meaning in it :) cdb

Barbara, A very nice gift for your Mom. As for spending Chirtsmas, I'm thinking of donating some of my time to a soup kitchen. My A will be with his kids and grandkids, and instead of me feeling sorry for myself, I think I'll turn it into something positive. I've been moping around the house today feeling a bit sorry for myself. About an hour ago I made a phone call to a church to see where I could go to help. So in the morning, I'll spend it with my sister and her family, and then go to the church and do some good there. While I still didn't get 1/2 the things done I wanted to, I'm feeling a bit better about Christmas. Maybe giving back is what I'm suppose to do this holiday. There are so many people who have much less than I. Live strong, Karilynn