Of Christmas 2011

And... come up for air.Last Christmas was bad.I was lonely, and went to a surprisingly dark place. Knowing this, and knowing more about me after a year of learning, I put a few things in place to avoid such experiences again.My only time with the kids would be Christmas Day morning, so I spent Christmas Eve on my couch, and went to bed quite early. Yeah, yeah I know. I should have gone out, but I wanted to be fresh the next day. So responsible.Anyway, I was up at 6am, and on the road early to be in Howick by 7am.I made it there in time to see my daughter wake up and discover her Santa Stocking through bleary eyes. Totally worth it.Now, neither of my kids believe in Santa any more, but they’re not prepared to give up on the gifts. So they say they do believe. When it counts. Nice strategy that. I'm quite proud of them.It was a happy time. Of course, after the unwrapping frenzy, child #1 went one way to play, child #2 went the other. My ex. went to the kitchen to prepare for the rest of her day, so I was kind of surplus to requirements. It was a very strange feeling.I left there about 10am to head home and prepare the Christmas Ham for my family dinner. I use the Gordon Ramsay recipe.It turned out really well. I was quite pleased with that.Anyway, my family are non-drinkers and are a little peculiar. The conversation never flows well because key topics that are avoided are church/religion, politics, parenting and divorce/separation amongst others. This of course doesn't leave much to talk about on any sort of personal level.We all contributed to the meal and ate well. Then moved to the exchange of gifts. I was married in to a family that simply presented each person with an enormous pile to open. My family do one present. Which is then opened. Followed by a discussion about the present, which usually starts with the giver saying “I’m sorry but I couldn’t find you exactly what I wanted...”.  I find this a little tedious, and the negative slant for each gift just didn't work for me at all.Anyway, to be fair, my family outdid themselves this year. They’ve paid attention to the fact that I’m enjoying cooking. I got a couple of items that I didn’t yet have for my kitchen. I’m quite pleased.Then there was the not-quite-thought-through gift. This year I got a glazed mug. With an embossed Marlin on it.I’m struggling with what to say about this one.After time with my family I spent the rest of the day with a friend, relaxing and de-stressing. I’m very grateful for those in my extended world who noted how I was last year, and generously invited me to spend time with them.Boxing Day was also spent in the sun, eating well and drinking too much. I totally recommend this. I was introduced to Gin. This goes down well, but really doesn’t agree with me at all. Or maybe it was the number of Gins I was introduced to. After the wine. I really must experiment some more before writing Gin off.On the plus side, the Gin did lead to dancing whilst watching the MTV Classic 80’s Marathon, and a Guns ‘n’ Roses special. It was a fun night.So, how was your Christmas/Boxing Day?- S