The best of Christmas wishes

I always find Christmas a slightly difficult time of year. Like a lot of other people do I suppose. We all want that happy and shiny and wonderful Christmas that the telly adverts and films promote with such a pull on our emotions. But I know very few people who actually achieve that blissful state. Most Christmas’s seem to be a balance of doing family duty and keeping other people happy to the detriment to ourselves and what we want.  I have had many stress filled Christmas’s doing just that!

But Christmas for me is also a time for celebrating what I have with those I love, and thinking of past Christmas’s with those who are no longer with us, parents, and grandparents, uncles and aunts, and long term family friends. I always send out loads of Christmas cards to friends old and new, and love to hear how people I used to work with many years ago are, and just want them to know I am thinking of them, as they no doubt do the same when they send their cards out too.

I had a nice chat on the phone yesterday with my ex-husband, who is still in my life albeit in a far more reduced way as he has remarried and I’ve been with my new man for more than six years now. We chatted about cards we’d had from people who used to be a big part of our married life, but who are less important in our diverse lives now, still thought of with affection, but that is the way with friendships, they are fluid with our own particular circumstances as they change.

But of course I have Christmas to look forward to with my new man and his family which brings its own particular joy and contentment. Maybe that’s what all of us want at this time, that contentment of feeling loved and belonging with people we love.

So that is what I wish to all. Enjoy the time you have with the people you love, and make happy memories that live on in your family. And try not to be too stressed…. !