An old post.. It’s for me

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 I WROTE THIS IN NOVEMBER

December is an odd month for me ... it always has been, but of late it has become even more so!

The dilemma of Christmas —-gift giving! No one on my list NEEDS anything but everyone seems to expect something! 

Everyone gets a chocolate letter- the first letter of their first name. This is a Dutch tradition. ($123)

When we were young, the church community gave all the children at church three things- a beautiful large orange, a large chocolate bar and a book! This was also a tradition brought from the Netherlands. We loved it!!  In the 1960s and 70s, oranges and chocolate were expensive! 

I was thinking I was going to do this for the grandchildren this year and explain the tradition BUT oranges are expensive again, so is chocolate and so are books. Should I spend the money or make a donation in their name?  $40 for oranges from Harry &David, $24 for Lindt chocolate bars, minimum $60 for books. ($124). Another dilemma!

 Christmas Eve celebrations and dinner are not too bad. We prepare a traditional puertorican  meal consisting of pork, rice, plantains, salad and garlic bread. That works as long as I don’t burn the bread although that is a bit of a tradition too!!

It might be different this year.

  This year, I think I’ll put up the tree, cook Christmas Eve dinner and buy few gifts!  It really is no different than other years but very scaled back. 

AND THAT’S HOW IT WAS! A GOOD TIME WITH FAMILY!

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