Tim and I are pretty accustomed to big Christmases. Our very first Christmas together was spent with his family on the other side of the world, and since then we’ve usually hosted one or both sets of families with us. This Christmas (our sixth? geez!) was pretty quiet in comparison to the others. We saw my extended Melbourne family for lunch (an incredible feast which featured three roasts, baked fish and salads) and lavished attention on my cousin’s new baby girl.
The rest of the time we were on our own. Christmas felt different this year, and not really in a good way. In previous years I’ve kind of craved a quiet Christmas for just the two of us but the truth is, the reality was less exciting than the idea. I missed my family; I missed Tim’s family. We’ve spent so much time with all of them this year that it felt weird to be without them on such an important day. We had phonecalls and skype, but what we really needed was our people – for realsies.
We need to do something about that next year.
Anyway, it wasn’t doom and gloom. Tim and I had a fun Christmas morning opening our presents, and we were both pretty spoiled. Tim gave me the Manfrotto tripod I’d been lusting after, and something I had no idea I wanted – a SodaStream! That thing is FUN and although I’m not a big soda/soft drink fan I do love my water carbonated so it’s going to get a workout this Summer. Tim got some boy stuff – a Playstation game, a voucher for some new running shoes and a big pile of books that he’d been hoping for.
Mum & Dad gave us a Sony HD handycam. It was probably their way of saying, “HEY. Give us back our video camera!” but that doesn’t matter because it’s awesome. It has a cool little projector on it too so that you can play back your footage in a dark room. It’s probably the closest thing to super 8 film that my generation will ever see again.
So that was Christmas. It wasn’t perfect, but it was still a reminder of how incredibly lucky we are. Just a 30 min drive from my house one of my best workmates was facing her first Christmas without her husband. Somebody else I care about spent the day watching their relationship unravel before their eyes. Tim and I had each other, our silly dog and some thoughtful gifts, and our loved ones were just a phonecall away. We know we’re pretty blessed.
Hoping that your Christmas was wonderful, even if for you it just means a bit of a rest from the everyday grind. I can’t quite believe that we’re about to head into a new year but I have a really good feeling about 2013.
And I’m never wrong about this sort of thing.
* No reindogs were harmed in the making of this blog post.
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