Today we had a pre Christmas pub lunch with my family from Derby. This is what Christmas is all about for me because families make a real effort to join together. Actually there was no lunch we just shared time together (and a few drinks) before my sister in law, my niece and the impressive father of her daughter departed to visit my mother.
Regular followers of this blog know that I am family man who hates the Political Class because I regard most of them as traitors to their heritage. My mother is in her final days (I hope) because her quality of life is negligible. We can only hope that she is comfortable and that is why we all visit regularly.
My mother was the bedrock of the family but today she is unrecognisable. Even my beloved daughter was shocked at how different she has become. It is time for the end.
So everyone Christmas is a poignant time of year. On one hand we celebrate the birth of a new member of the family and yet we may have the death of a much revered person who, in her time, has been a genuine mother and grandmother to us all.
Today, it is past midnight, the girls will delight us all by their reaction to their presents. They are always spoiled but we can do it. Nobody in my family goes into debt for Christmas (to my knowledge). I love the family atmosphere and the togetherness and I hope that my family in Derby keeps in touch. They are the family of my late brother who tragically died aged 38 many years ago.
Despite that may I take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy Christmas and let's hope that next year we take the fight to the politicians again. Did you really expect me to wish you anything else? Celebrate our lives because they end too soon. Merry Christmas1
2 comments:
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you too Bryboy. I recognise what you say about your Mother. My own dear Mother died shortly before Christmas some 11 years ago. Her decline was both rapid and painful and I hated myself for wishing for her death but that was from love.
The family had Christmas dinner at Mam's house that year as an act of celebration of her life. She would have appreciated that. She believed in the after-life but has never "visited" me. Personally I believe that the after-life is actually in our hearts and brains. She will always exist there whether or not she is now in a better place.
As I explained to a Sikh friend of mine I would need a week of the vicar's time to take my confession before I could again attend mass. So I likely will be in the "other place" rather than with my Mam when my time comes!
All the best to you and yours.
A PS
My Sikh friend? Well she asked why I didn't attend the village Church - too complicated to tell her my full reasons but actually little to do with faith but more with people.
She pays scant regard to her own religion and her hubby even less but HIS mother is meticulous.
My own Dad turned against his Catholic religion when his Mother died very painfully shortly after I was born in her house. She knew me but I have no memory of her.
Sorry Dad but I had to ignore your wishes and still have you removed with a blessing.
My alias "bewick"? Well Thomas Bewick. the engraver, is buried in the local churchyard and is this village's "claim to fame". The next village has George Stephenson.
My Sikh friend's tiny son likes walking around the churchyard with me. In fact he likes walking anywhere with me and declares me his best friend. He gave me something approaching a heart attack when he asked, whilst standing on Thomas Bewick's gravestone, what it was all about. I explained as sensitively as I could to a 4 year old - and of course told his Mam when I returned him home.
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