timandfee

I love Christmas. It is my favourite time of the year. This year it will be a very different, as i will not be going home to Ballyhard - nothing to do with the fact that i will be 34 weeks pregnant - we had a fire in my parents house some months ago, not that much damage and we got everything out, but it means that the house is under renovation and not available to be the gathering centre it normally is.   Finally my mum gets her wish…for years she has been saying “maybe next year we will go away for Christmas”, we laughed and said no way, but with no house this year we had to do something different and in the end we are all going to Lanzarote.

I am sorry about that - i LOVE going to ballyhard for Christmas - mum has the house amazing (a lot of work, which is mainly why she wants to get away), the decorations are beautiful, the fires are on in every room, the Christmas music is playing softly, the fridges are FULL of yummy food, and eveyone comes home and is in great form.   Last year everyone was there - all 7 kids, the folks, my aunt Kay and tim - and we had an new arrival: Alina. She even got up and joined in the christmas night party (about 30 of the family and extended family packed into the sitting room singing basically).

We normally leave Balyhard much fatter, and much happier after 5 or 6 days and head to Belgium for New Year.

But this year it is different, we are going to the Canaries and then because of my pregnancy we come back to Barcelona for New Years.   On the 25th of December instead of hoping for snow, we will be hoping for sun.  I am a traditional girl at heat, i like the cold at Christmas!  But  at least we are all together and more importantly Santa is back after an absence of more then 15 years!

Christmas is so exciting for children, and while Alina does not fully grasp what is going on, it is still magical to see how amazed she is by the lights, and how weirded out she is by the “Santa´s” standing in the shop entrances!

I have been playing Christmas songs, we have the tree, and her room has 2 Santas, among other things! With me as a mum, the poor child has no choice but to be absorbed into the Christmas swing of things - like it or not!!  I love taking her around the shops, buying presents, showing her the trees and lights, and watching her amazed little face.

Christmas for me is about family.  And I am SOOOO looking forward to seeing everyone together - in the end it does not matter where we are, i just love us all hanging out. Another year where we are lucky enough to still be alive, in great health, and able to enjoy the silly season.  I will miss catching up with my friends mind you.

I hope that Alina will come to love the season as much as I do, and more importantly I hope that Christmas is as much about family - having fun, talking, singing, and generally hanging out - as it is for me.  I wish for her the butterflies and joyfulness i experience just thinking of Christmas day.  And i also wish that we are able to have many more years together, wherever they will be.