Not everyone remembers Christmas with joy and fondness.  For many it is a time of dysfunctional family dynamics, unhappy memories,  loneliness, grief, or unfulfilled dreams.  How about you?

I am one of those many people who dreaded Christmas for most of my adult years.  When I was a child my mother and older sister always made Christmas seem especially magical and memorable.  But, in later years, my mother's own bitter unhappiness made her choose to make everyone else suffer too.  She created so many unhappy Christmases that I came to dread the holiday season and the rejection and loneliness that came with it  

For many years, I turned Christmas into a time of helping those less .........