Last Christmas I had the extremely exciting opportunity to spend Christmas with the family in Brighton as my little grandson Jaxon was born mid December. This year it was back to just the two of us, with our feathered and four legged friends. Obviously I had a wonderful time last year. I was with the kids, the grandchildren, and Frankie's partner Jordan's family were very kind and squeezed another place for me at the dinner table at least twice. It was lovely, and I was very grateful.
It did make me realise however what I really miss at this time of the year are the Christmasses of the past. Especially when the children were young and we would visit family and friends over the festive period. A highlight would always be a trip to my Auntie Jess on Boxing day. We would pick up Uncle Charlie, her brother en route, and usually drop him at the pub first, and he would join us later. We would arrive, usually to the familiar smell of roasting pork which was her favourite. Auntie Jess was in catering and her food was always lovely. If any of you are fans of Peter Kay the comedian, he has me in stitches when he talks about the 'reserve chairs' coming out at Christmas. I would always stifle a giggle when we would be at different heights all around the table with our hats from our crackers. Especially as Auntie Jess and Uncle Charlie being so small their feet wouldn't touch the ground!
Just a couple of years before we lost Auntie Jess we turned up on Boxing Day, as planned, although bless her heart she had forgotten she had invited us, even though she had just spent Christmas Day with us. Luckily I had brought all the food. She did hunt through her kitchen cupboards and came tottering out with a few bowls of things. One particular bowl, Mark and Frankie were pondering over, so I decided to dive in first. The taste was vaguely familiar, but I couldn't quite work out what it was. I had to ask... "Auntie Jess, if you don't mind me asking, what's in that bowl?" "Oooh I don't know" she replied. "I'll show you the packet" It was a packet of Smash, instant mashed potato, bless her heart.
I'm digressing again, but it was those days when we played cards with pennies with the neighbours, and we never worried about what was on television, apart from maybe the Morecombe and Wise show. We cannot go back however so we need to start making new memories now.
This year I was determined to enjoy my Christmas Day and not get too upset about not being with the family, and I did so well - I even put up my Christmas tree. Alan and I don't buy each other presents, however we did treat ourself to something... more news on that in another blog post. We did get a huge bag of Cadbury's chocolate from Alan's auntie, which went down an absolute treat and is still laying on our tummies! On Christmas Day I spoke to both Mark and Frankie on skype which was great, and they were both spending Christmas with their loved ones. Alan and I enjoyed a good roast dinner, we also had a walk by the lake and had a relaxing evening in front of a roaring log fire.
Ww hope you had a lovely Christmas. With love from Alan and I and some of the gang!
Alan with Eduardo
With Cassandra
Galaxy and I
Big Beautiful Blue
Carlos
Our little Miliko
Big Arf!
Our gorgeous Gabi
