Page 32 2025 Home For The Holidays Lincoln Daily News Something Has Changed with Christmas… Something Is Not the Same Christmas. Matching jammies. Kids sneaking out of their rooms to wake each other, then jumping on our bed to get us up. Wrapping paper everywhere. The scent of homemade monkey bread drifting through the house. Some days, I think I would give almost anything to go back to that time. When I look back on Christmases past, I pray that I paused long enough to really enjoy the kids—their excitement, their innocence, even their glorious chaos. I swear, I could’ve placed a giant trash bag right in front of them and still watched paper, bows, and boxes fly into every corner of the room like a festive tornado. I loved wrapping gifts all December long, right up until Christmas Eve when Santa “delivered” gift bags filled with brand-new Christmas jammies for each of them. I loved seeing their little faces after school as they spotted more presents under the tree. They’d bend over each tag, shake every box, try to guess what was inside. It was so much easier to shop for them back then, wasn’t it? They circled toys in the Sears catalog or the Walmart ad—each child using a different colored marker so there was no confusion… as if I didn’t instantly recognize each kid’s handwriting and color choice. And best of all, I always knew all three kids would be home for every moment of the festivities. No schedules, no juggling, no negotiating. Just us. Just Christmas. Then…it happened. They grew up. Honestly, how rude. Suddenly matching pajamas weren’t “cool.” Their Christmas lists shifted from toys to very specific cosmetics or electronics that required research, coupons, and sometimes a prayer. And worst of all, I had to start sharing them—with boyfriends’ families, girlfriends’ families, and new traditions that didn’t include me. Christmas Eve suddenly came with travel plans. Christmas morning came with deadlines. Someone had to be at someone else’s house by noon. Those first few years were rough. I won’t pretend they weren’t. I felt the loss of what Christmas used to be. But then something changed in me. I realized that I was getting to share holidays with some pretty wonderful people too. Our kids and their significant others were making it a priority to be with us, not out of obligation, but because they genuinely wanted to. And I began to recognize that other moms and families were sharing their babies with me as
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