Celebrating the holidays differently. What gift can you give yourself?

Great question,@Erinmfs!! @gingerw, I thoroughly enjoyed your post! Especially your TessieBelle scolding and questions about Siri!! Like you, I'm not tech savvy either and still haven't figured out what to ask or do with the Alexa Echo Show gifted by my daughter!

Good for you & hubby for helping the family who lost everything! And how humbling and touching that the teenagers only requested clothes. I truly find that the very best of giving and receiving for me at any holiday is doing something thoughtful for others who may be struggling, either with the added loneliness or because of other circumstances.

A neighbor friend called on X-mas Eve to tell me her partner had just been hospitalized..thankfully not Covid but severe strep throat. All of her family live in Scotland and no remaining relatives for our hospitalized friend. When asked if she'd be doing a Zoom with her sister, she said that she'd declined even though it was her Birthday...Oh, wow! Double calamity....X-mas alone and on her birthday to boot! I quickly put together a b.d. and X-mas pkg and then thought to e-mail her some pics of me taken for fun the day before.

Luckily my hair is thick and grows fast. The usual 3 1/2 week haircuts are currently delayed now by 2 1/2 mos. First early (and only if I'm lucky!) morning glance in the mirror reveals a cross between the flying nun head gear and England's Prime Minister, Boris Johnson except mine is curly. One has to tout all advantages, multiple cow licks and all, yes???

On a whim and inspired by my even more unusually astonishing early morning appearance on the 23rd, I teased my locks it a bit more before donning red X-mas sweater and adding every piece of X-mas jewelry in the house...jingle bell earrings, broaches, necklaces, the works...Then in honor of the occasion and Because I'd not used a speck of artifical beauty since early March, I added the out of lines lipstick, rounds of clown blush, up-to-brows, eyeliner and mascara. Truly a sight to behold!

Called a friend and asked if she'd take a few pics of me all decked out; she did and e-mailed photos to my family and some friends..Wearing X-mas socks for "mittens"; with numerous face masks dangling from wrists and holding a sign: Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry X-Mas 2020, it brought some hilarious responses with a few verging on impertinence...no respect for the close-up wrinkles and well earned silvers in the hair..what can I say??? So I e-mailed those to both neighbor friends as well.

I am a big believer in self-rewards throughout the year...great motivation to get those dratted tasks done...it works for me! And having spent many holidays celebrating alone, I've become quite proficient at planning ahead for those special days with favorites for meals and sometimes the table cloth, candles and good china. Also small indulgences like fragrantly scented, candle lit soaky baths, a Bloody Mary to start the day, doing a totally nothing constructive day, turning off the phone for a nap with no guilt, and binging on whatever book or tv entertainment calls my name.

Always feel perfectly "justified" on "special days" in also gifting myself with some small extravagance...a recent b.d. self-gift was subscription to Netflix...Yes!

Another treat was steering clear of media and computer/e-mail posts/"news" for several days. Why subject self needlessly to unhappy that you can avoid or do nothing to rectify is my thinking. and no regrets.

This holiday, a "goodie" order for family from a cheese/meat/confection catalog offered a "thank you for the order" choice of either cheese or butter toffee...naturally, I went with the toffee; one can purchase cheese any ole' day, right??? Oh, That was a Good choice!!

One thing is certain regardless of what or how or if we celebrate the holidays this year and that is that everyone of us can be hopeful for a much, much better 2021 ahead. Best to all!

This year we helped a family who had lost everything. It truly was a sneaky thing, as they had no idea. The youngsters asked for nothing but clothes. That they got, and the parents got grocery gift cards. It made our day brighter to forego any gift giving, and knowing these kids are warm, and family fed. Our area has been hit hard by pandemic shutdowns and fires.

We rang our sleigh bells at 6pm last night, to help Santa find his way.
Ginger

@gingerw So nice of you to help the family! I’d been feeling down over Christmas because of all that’s going on in the world. I’ve normally been a big volunteer person but was talked out of everything because of my health. Then I hit on some ways I could help! Through a Covid crisis page in a neighborhood about families needing help. And another neighborhood page “sell nothing, buy nothing” one women asked for help with Christmas gifts for her kids and another needed help with Christmas dinner. It sure lifted my spirits to still be able to help.
You are always an inspiration for me! Thank you. Becky

Curly as in Shirley Temple curls?

@fiesty76 Great post, and you sure made me smile this morning, trying to imagine that image of you. Would you honor us by posting it here, so we may all smile or giggle, too?
Ginger

@gingerw So nice of you to help the family! I’d been feeling down over Christmas because of all that’s going on in the world. I’ve normally been a big volunteer person but was talked out of everything because of my health. Then I hit on some ways I could help! Through a Covid crisis page in a neighborhood about families needing help. And another neighborhood page “sell nothing, buy nothing” one women asked for help with Christmas gifts for her kids and another needed help with Christmas dinner. It sure lifted my spirits to still be able to help.
You are always an inspiration for me! Thank you. Becky

@becsbuddy We are grateful for having been able to help out. The sad thing is that we had a very negative reaction from my step-daughter, as we wished everyone a good holiday season, and let them know we had decided to help out locally. On the other hand, my step-son's ex-wife and her kids all praised us for helping a family who needed it. Such a wide spectrum of responses.
Ginger

@gingerw So nice of you to help the family! I’d been feeling down over Christmas because of all that’s going on in the world. I’ve normally been a big volunteer person but was talked out of everything because of my health. Then I hit on some ways I could help! Through a Covid crisis page in a neighborhood about families needing help. And another neighborhood page “sell nothing, buy nothing” one women asked for help with Christmas gifts for her kids and another needed help with Christmas dinner. It sure lifted my spirits to still be able to help.
You are always an inspiration for me! Thank you. Becky

Harriet -
Because we will be without family at our table this year, we have chosen to forego some heritage traditions (all time consuming) Toutiere (French-Canadian meat pie), Potica (Slovenian rolled sweet bread) and the giant pot of Polish in kraut. The giant Saturday-before-Christmas allergy-friendly cookie bake was of course cancelled. Tomorrow I will mini-bake - one easy cookie & 2 quick breads. Some will freeze for a remote New Years' celebration with friends.
Sue

@sueinmn I did some baking before Christmas this year and frankly it was the thing that made me most satisfied during this difficult season. I made four different kinds of cookies, 2 types of muffins, and shared a lot of them with our neighbors across the street who have three children. They appreciate my baking a lot because with three children and working as a lawyer from her home, she has little time for that.
My daughter was visiting a friend who lives up here so they came by, just in our driveway, and I gave them goodies too. She didn't want to visit closely with us because they hadn't been Covid tested and she and my son are both extremely conscious of how serious it could be if either I or my husband got Covid.
One of the cookies I made were chocolate chip cookies using green and red mini M&Ms instead of chips. I assumed my husband would eat them, he loves chocolate chip cookies, but he would not because they were M&Ms, not chips! He has some weird food preferences.
We did get to zoom with my daughter on Christmas day and exchange gifts with her and her husband. That was the highlight of the day. Since my son was visiting his in-law in SC we zoomed with them yesterday, they got home on Saturday. It was great "seeing" them, even on zoom.
JK