We had a very cut-down Christmas, with pretty much just us and the pets. Part of this was because we had our Lanzarote holiday a week before Christmas, coming home three days before.

Also, lots of the big rituals of Christmas past were broken. Rach’s church has changed (not for the better) during Covid, so there are no carol and Christmas Day services. The kids aren’t involved in the music at school, so there are no concerts there. Honestly, I don’t miss that side of things, feeling low on energy and obliged to attend these events.

On a less happy front, my mother-in-law’s death earlier this year. meant that we didn’t have any guests. But seeing that Evie, who put together the decorations this year with great gusto, used Elaine’s tree (a great relief since it’s smaller and in better condition than our Orphanage sized tree) and her decorations, it was like she was with us. Since Rachel and Evie bought a decoration that opens up, we could have put some of Elaine’s ashes in it and hung it on the tree! I quietly ignored requests to do this, feeling a bit funny about it.

So small and cosy would sum it up. With good food and some board games (Fireball island and Monopoly), pets and time for each other.