I don't have a big family at all...so Christmas has been hard for me emotionally when I see the commercialism of it. But I manage to cope with Christmas by developing traditions with me and my mother. We go shopping the day before Christmas and pick out the things we like. We go for lunch and make Santa Clause lists of what we saw that we liked. Then we split up for an hour and buy each other the gifts that we know each other will like. It is never the point of the "buying" or the "gifts". It is about the laughter, the time spent together and the tradition that I love. Then Christmas Eve, we watch the Christmas Carol for the 35th time... That is Christmas to me. Love, tradition and connection...revisiting what is really important.