I’ve just arrived home from nine days away for Christmas – four with my parents and four with Tom’s with a day of tattoo time in between. Surrounding the Christmas tree, which up until last week was enveloped by presents wrapped in multicoloured paper awaiting being torn off by friends and family, now bears the presents we’ve been given, on show for us to enjoy before they’re absorbed into the house. I want to savour those last few moments of Christmas but now it is New Year’s Eve and I don’t feel quite ready for the new year but it’s coming anyway, regardless, regardless of the fact that there are clothes to unpack and to wash, Christmas DVDs still in their wrappers, tins of Celebrations and Pringles unopened.
Looking back on the last nine days I can’t help but wonder if I was a Christmaszilla (like a Bridezilla, but Christmas. Is that a thing?) I know I started getting excited sometime around mid-October, when presents began being bought, Michael Bublé made his first appearance on my iPhone and I started dreaming of stringing the house with Christmas lights. Like the anticipation of a carefully planned event or a wedding, months of excitement and ‘looking forward’ can almost never deliver a day that is exactly as you imagined. That’s not to say that my Christmas was disappointing, far from it, it was wonderful. But in my head every moment was filled with the smell of mulled wine, family gathered around a board game, Christmas films with the fire roaring away, glasses of Bucks Fizz, the savouring of special presents, laughter, joy. And I’m so very lucky that we did all of these things, but I probably need to remember next year that it can’t be all of these things all of the time. That sometimes people want to do things that they want to do, or they might not like playing board games or eating the things that I want to eat and that’s okay too. I sometimes wonder if all of the media we consume, be it TV programmes and adverts, films, or the snapshots we get of people’s lives through blogging make us believe that everything has to be picture perfect all of the time. That we have to handmake immaculate gifts, have a Christmas that’s bursting at the seams with non-stop fun, pick up the best bargains in the sales and then reflect on our perfect years. But we would all do well to remember that sometimes Yorkshire puddings get burnt, you run out of wrapping paper, the shoes you wanted in the Debenhams sale sell out before you get a chance to buy them and the cookies you baked turn out like unsightly splodges instead of Christmas trees. There’s always next year. What matters is friends and family.
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| Presents under the tree at my parents’ |
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| My Dad being chuffed with his hamper |
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| Christmas dinner |
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| Lots of Lush treats |
I thought I would really enjoy having a break away from blogging but in reality I missed it a lot. I was lucky enough to receive a Kindle Fire HD for Christmas so I’ve been keeping up on reading blogs but I’ve missed being able to share things on here. I’ve found renewed motivation and excitement for blogging whilst I’ve been away and I want to make 2013 a great year for the blog with lots of good things to read on here. Blogging has become a huge part of my life and moreso even over the last few months and I owe it all to the awesome people who take the time to read it and comment (thankyou!) I spent some time earlier setting up a little Facebook page for the blog which I hope to put other bits and bobs on so please give it a like if you fancy. Hope you all have wonderful New Year’s Eves; I’ll be spending it with Tom, Bodhi, an array of Marks and Spencers party food selection boxes and some good movies. I can’t think of anything better.
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