Our Christmas has shrunk so dramatically, from a full household of anywhere from 8-10 people sleeping and eating here for the whole week after Christmas (where did we ever put them all!!!) to just three of us now. My brother remarried and now spends Christmas with his new family; his daughters are all grown now and spend Christmas with their Mom (my brother's ex-wife); both my parents and my youngest brother (who spent every Christmas with us) have passed away. So for the past five years, there have been only three of us. This year, it looks like it will just be hubby and myself. So we don't have many gifts to buy this year.

But I had already started shopping right after Christmas last year! I knew I had my step-daughter's name for the stocking this year, so have been picking up little gifts all year long. But her Mom's partner just passed away, so my SD doesn't want her to spend Christmas alone. So not sure what I'll do with all those stocking stuffers. Maybe save them and we'll have ourselves a second Christmas later.

We also shop all year round for gifts to take to Cuba. We try to take one small gift for all of the people on our list - close to 100, including hotel staff, our families in the village and other friends in other nearby villages. It's so much fun, and challenging, given that we have weight allowance to consider. But we've pretty much managed to find some little thing for everyone. Just a few last-minute goodies to buy (e.g., some people specifically requested chocolate). Since our Christmas has turned into such a low-key thing, in some ways more painful than joyful because of all the empty chairs around the table, we see our time in Cuba as our real Christmas now.