One of my favourite Christmas memories is of the year the Bluefunnels came to stay. They had been having a little trouble with their mothers. Both of them wanted the Bluefunnels to go to them for Christmas dinner and going to one would most definitely cause the other to feel slighted and snubbed and just about any other guilt making emotion.
My mother (goodness me how I miss her so) said "come to us, that way they can both hate me for a while. They'll soon forget" So they came to us. That meant nine of us around the table for dinner and my children had their beloved 'Uncle' to play with. So it was really good a couple of years ago when Mrs Bluefunnel rang us early on Christmas morning and, during the course of our chat, asked how many we were feeding that year. "Just us" I said, "The kids are all having their own Christmas this year so we can have our dinner in front of the TV" "No you can't," she said "You can get your coats on and get yourselves up here, as long as you don't mind just sleazing in front of the telly after dinner" So we went to them and had a marvellous dinner and a great afternoon and we cooked our dinner on Boxing day.
I spent a while trying to think of a Christmas that wasn't perfect and went back year by year and suddenly realised that Christmas 2006 was the one that I totally do not remember. I will need to go and look at the album for that year. OK so my daughter and her family were here for Christmas and then they went home to pack up all their stuff so they could move down here and live with us. Even knowing that I just don't remember much of the actual day and that's because my Mum died in the April of that year and I remember the ache I felt through every special day and every anniversary. I look at the pages I did for the holiday and I feel again the sense of detachment I felt while everyone was laughing and watching Miss M open presents I felt as though I was watching through a gauze curtain. I suppose my children will all feel that to a degree this year because my ex husband died in February. Sometimes life can be a b*st*rd can't it?
1 comment:
Yes. It can x
Post a Comment