A Solitary Christmas, kind of -- Misha Herwin
Once
upon a time, everyone came to us for Christmas, the kids and their partners,
their half-brother, my ex-husband, his wife, my sister and brother-in-law. It
might have meant eating on our laps but we opened the doors between the sitting
and dining rooms and squeezed everyone on in.
It
was great, everyone brought a contribution to the meal so there was no panic
about getting it all ready and we ate and drank and once or twice even made it
to the mid-night service.
Then
the kids grew up and had their kids and their own houses and our roles changed.
Instead of being hosts, we were guests. For the first few years this felt
strange and a little sad, then gradually I became aware of the advantages. I
was no longer the one who organised everything, nor did I have to worry about
cleaning the house, or making sure there was enough cutlery, crockery, crackers
and paper napkins.
This
year will be different again. It will be just the two of us. Mike is having a
hip operation in January and because the joint has deteriorated so much driving
over a hundred miles to stay with our daughter, as it’s her turn to host the
family, is not really an option. So we are staying at home, just the two of us.
We’ve
done it before. We had Christmas alone during lockdown, but then so did
everyone else. This year however is different. The family will be together and
the best we can do is join them on FaceTime.
Although I’ll miss being there, I’m going to look at the positive
aspects of Christmas a deux.
First,
we can choose what we want to cook and eat and there will definitely be less
than usual and some of it, dare I confess, will be pre-prepared by my favourite
supermarket.
Then
there will be no travelling and we can get up and go to bed at whatever time we
please. I fully intend to spend most of Christmas Day reading the books I know
I’m going to find in my stocking.
And
if I want to go upstairs and work on my last Adventure of Letty Parker, I can.
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