Christmas is a funny thing, isn’t it? A lot of hype, excitement, change in routine, new things, people, food, experiences good and bad. But it really is just only one day. Christmas is only one day.
As I type this, my family is asleep. We had an early start. Excitement and anxiety, plus an injured cat who is currently housebound, meant we were all up early and subsequently in bed early too.
We have had a lovely day. It’s had its wobbly moments. A child with sensory processing disorder can go from being totally fine to not coping easily on high days and holidays and we narrowly judged our timing today, and got it right. No meltdowns from him or his parents. Win.
Explaining to someone about the death of my mother. Not so much fun. A slightly tactless person wanting to know details that I tend to bury, 25 years in the past. They probably thought I needed to talk, but I was just being polite and trying to change the subject as fast as possible. Not so much a win.
Presents a success, and everyone happy. A win. I have a book to read, chocolate to eat, the tween (who next week will no longer be a tween) is learning how to use her sewing machine, and once we crack the rules around where and how we can fly a drone, the boy’s Christmas gift will be put to the test.
We ate lunch with 30 plus other people. I even converted a few to the joys of Brussel Sprouts.
We watched the Queen make her speech. I like the Queen. Like us, I think she has had a pretty tough year and is glad it’s almost over.
I am grateful to have my children, to have a husband who is healthy, after his major health scare in the Spring of this year. To have a home, and to be safe. There have been times this year where we have felt very challenged, very unsafe and very unsure of exactly what life was going to throw at us next, or trying to process what was being thrown at us.
It’s been a lovely day. But it’s really only just one day. We get so hyped up, we spend so much time and money, for only one day and then at the end of it, we go back to normal, probably needing to reach for the indigestion tablets, and wondering what to do with all the gifts that have arrived that need new homes to accommodate them.
I love Christmas, I love the idea of it. But as I get older I wonder at all the fuss and bother and I am quite glad to get back to normal. I think secretly most people are….
