When I was a kid, Christmas was always a sizable deal in my family. Even though our father passed away while the people I was with and I kids were still quite young, my mother still made every effort to give us all sorts of presents as well as just be able to celebrate at Christmas. She would even take hour tasks so she could make ends meet as well as still buy gifts. Both of us would often shrimp as well as save on other things, such as the air conditioning or the heating. In summer, my mom would set the temperature control quite high so the a/c would not run all day long. It was never super comfortable, however it was always bearable. The same thing was true in the winter. Both of us did not particularly need the furnace all that often, however when the people I was with and I did, mom set the temperature control quite low, again in an effort to save on heating as well as cooling costs. When I look back on it now, it does not bother me that the people I was with and I were conservative with our air conditioning as well as heater. In fact, I am still that way as an adult. I do not know in spending too much money, as well as utilities are absolutely a sizable cost each week. I do remember one year when I was still pretty young – perhaps I was around fifteen years aged – as well as my oldest brother as well as his spouse were being actually sneaky around Christmas time. I knew they were up to something, however I did not guess what it was. It turned out that they decided to pay the heating as well as cooling costs for two weeks for my mom as her Christmas present. They came as well as got the bill, which was a week behind, as well as paid it all the way up. My mom cried, as well as that was particularly the first time I realized how hard my mom’s life was.