I'm not entirely sure why I'm not that into the gift part of Christmas - but it's the gathering together that has pretty much always been what I have been attracted to.
When I was a kid our house was the center for many family gatherings. It was always so much fun to have my aunts come over to make food and wrap gifts with my mom before the event and then to have my cousins come over and laugh and have fun together. Long after the other families though had switched to fewer gifts, our house always had balls, cowboy things, records, play things. My folks did this for my down syndrome brother, and I guess they thought I'd feel left out if they lowered the number of gifts I received. But it was sort of embarrassing. At some point I remember saying I didn't want any birthday gifts...
Our son isn't very enthused about gifts. We have so much stuff already. After my parents passed away, for about 6 years instead of gifts, we would go on a family holiday together. Usually starting the week between Christmas and ending a few days after New Years.
I'm glad we did that.
This year, son is working and didn't get days off. Still we made a nice meal and ate together, and later that night (or was it New Years Even) we watched a movie on TV together. It's been years since we have done that, so it was nice. Can't talk during a movie, but can be together.
