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Christmas

It's that time of year again, the time to celebrate with family and friends and for celebrating the birth of Jesus, if that's your thing. As I have never celebrated the birth of Jesus, Christmas has always been the time of year when all the family meets up and generally just has a nice get-together over a few Harvey Wallbangers (on my Mum's side at least).

Talking about family get-togethers is always a strange one since for most of my life I have always had to divide my Christmas and New Year between my Mum and my Dad. In some ways this makes them extra special as I then get to see both halves of my family over this period and in some ways it really doesn't as it takes the magic out of the whole experience.

In recent years the family aspect has begun to fall away and I find myself wondering what the point of Christmas is if you don't celebrate the birth of Jesus and your family gathering seems to shrink every year despite your best efforts. This year is particularly strange as my one continuous thread for Christmas has always been my sister and this year she's spending it with her boyfriend's family in France (admittedly after encouragement from me and Mum).

In a sense then, it's not as if I've lost family, just that my family has grown over the years to encompass lots of other people who all call on our time and want to spend this particular day with us. We've all grown up somewhat and have our own lives to lead but the ties that hold us together are still there even if they are a lot more flexible than before. And there is one point in the next year when we'll all get together as my cousin is getting married so we'll all be descending on Somerset in March at least!

I am also guilty of being hypocritical about family gatherings as while Christmas Day might be reserved for family, the days surrounding it are used to meet up with friends who I may not get to see very often. Christmas is the one time of year when most of us are around and it's nice to meet up with old school friends to see how they are and catch up over the year just gone. The hardest part is meeting up with uni friends as we really are spread all over the world and meet-ups have to happen on a mostly individual basis. Resolution No 1 for me is definitely to communicate more frequently with friends. Even if I end up making this resolution every few months it is no less important for it.

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