Monday, December 29, 2008

Christmas

I have just enjoyed a wonderful Christmas. Both my daughters are home and are well. My wife (at her very best around Christmas) and I have escaped from the stresses of work for a few days and are much the better for it. My mother and mother-in-law are in good health and clearly enjoyed Christmas Day which we all celebrated at my brother's house (with my sister-in-law and my baby niece) along with my sister and her family. We all ate a little too much; nobody drank to excess. We had a wonderful time coping with family banter around a large table. I missed my Dad (he died in March) but we exchanged some lovely memories of him between us all. Boxing Day was an equally pleasant occasion; smaller, at our house. The other days have been spent curled up with books, seeing friends, enjoying a well-earned holiday. Presents? Of course. Some really good presents from people who actually thought about what I would like. Likewise, me to them.
But I have to say, in all honesty, that Christmas without the people around me would be truly awful.
The perennial description of Christmas as a greed-based, over-commercialised, erstwhile-Christian excuse for gluttony and drunkenness is not recognised in my house or my family. We love Christmas for what I hope are the right reasons.

1 comment:

Fiona said...

Great to hear you had a lovely time xxx