I still love the holidays, but I miss the old days when my husband and I hosted them in our big house on the hill. I think I miss him more at this time of year than at any other time. He was so big into the gift-giving thing and would squirrel away money all through the year, no matter how little of it we had way back in the day, and buy the kids and me wonderful presents. It made him so happy to see the looks on our faces when we opened them up...damn, I miss him so much!!!

The kids do the holidays now, and while I also miss the old traditions like going to Christmas Eve Mass and then home for hot cocoa and Christmas movies, they do a nice job of making the holiday merry. I go to church early in the morning, and when I get home we open presents and then get the holiday dinner ready. My son-in-law gets a huge prime rib every year and we usually have 12-15 people over. My son inherited my love of holiday decorating and he starts the day after Thanksgiving. It's funny, he just rearranged the living room furniture today in anticipation of putting up the Christmas tree in a couple of weeks.