Christmas Anxiety

Yes... it's that time of year again. What is about Christmas that changes when you get older? Life used to be so simple. You started thinking about Christmas in December, and the only things to worry about were when the tree was going to get put up, which forest my Dad was going to get it from in the dead of night, how to decorate it, and presents. Now I start planning in October!! Who will I spend Christmas with this year? How will it work? When will we see everyone else? How can I avoid upsetting everyone? That's something my brother has not so far mastered - something to do with having 2 children that all the Grandparents want to see. I, of course, will also be working Christmas Day providing a meal for the disadvantaged, people who on the whole don't have anywhere else to go on Christmas Day, and will be helped by a lot of volunteers who will give up their day to help. I was on the phone discussing this very dilemma of what to do this Christmas with my brother last night and spoke to my 4-year-old niece, who for no reason at all said "Je t'aime, Marraine." So, I hope I will remember this year that having a family to divide time between is a blessing that should not be forgotten.

I was on holiday recently and combined a number of things. I took the ferry from Portsmouth to Le Havre, and drove to the Loire to stay at my Dad's. After a few days I went to the Charente to visit my Mum, and finally went to Belgium to visit my brother and family in Belgium on the way home. I like to measure holiday success in a number of ways: number of books read, number of days when the sun shone, and how relaxed I feel by the end. This holiday was a great success! Number of books read: 12. Number of days the sun shone: 12. Relaxation level: 7. Interesting how the books were all read before I got to my brother's house, where my older niece said when she heard I was coming "J'adore ma Marraine!!" And I believe she does. I took her to school, played with her when she got home, and generally had a lot of fun that did not involve any reading whatsoever... So perhaps I need a new holiday measure - amount of fun had with Eloisa!