The holiday season can be difficult for people without kids. It helps to remember that it's the rhetoric, not the reality, that makes for trying times. There are many ways to experience the joys of the holiday season - without children.

Survive the happy-family-with-kids media blitz this year by remembering and reconnecting with the peaceful heart and spirit of this special season.

What do you do with your time? What will you do with your time when you get old? Who will remember you after you die? Don't you feel you missed out on life's most important experience? Don't you get bored without someone (kids, grand kids, great grand kids) to worry about?

Many people think that childfree people have a more difficult time with the loss of a beloved life partner without the support of children. Former newspaper lifestyle editor Cara Swann has a different take on the subject. She lost her spouse several years ago and is childfree by choice.

Since so many parents seem to view childfree people as inevitably lonely and unfulfilled, I want to collect stories with an opposing point of view. What are the focal points and pleasures of your life as adults without kids? And, here's a few stories of my own...

Ever wonder why people devoted to caring for pets and animals (other than human) are repeatedly typecast as pathologically needy? This is especially true for childfree pet owners, and even more so for women.