Well, my School year is over and I'm home for Christmas on Moonbase once more.
Most things on the base are organised for the three day festival, which begins in earnest on Christmas Eve: the dog-sitter is ready, the food shopping s written on a big list [3 different diets], prezzies are wrapped and hidden, the tree is decorated and the grown-up children and Moonbase Grandson plan to arrive on Christmas Eve, bringing the turkey with them!
Before the main event there are some cherished quiet periods for the Missus and me, gently lit by the tree lights, watching Christmas films with the dog and listening to crooning carols sipping port on the sofa. There's also a visit to our Nephew and God-children delivering presents.
Our Nephew's family are our only wider family in the County where we live, as we moved away from our various home towns many years ago and settled here as 'incomers'. Its always a special afternoon of kids, coffee and cake, which only happens at Christmas.
The get-together reminds me greatly of Scrooge's revelatory visit to his his Nephew Fred's home towards the end of Dickens' A Christmas Carol, where Scrooge regrets his unnecessary absence and wonders why he simply hadn't called round before.
Christmas has a habit of holding a lens on life like this and especially our family relationships. It brews a heady punch of nostalgia, regret, hope, guilt, optimism, sadness and joy. Pretty much everything that Scrooge experienced in the company of his three spirits. Dickens got it bang on I would say and his message of salvation is timeless.
So, wherever you are this Christmas readers I wish you and yours all the very best of everything this Yuletide holiday and the brightest of launches into the coming New Year.
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