Christmas Day 2016

Well, I don’t know about you, but for me at least, it turns out Christmas was just what the doctor ordered.

(Not literally, obviously: I mean, it would be awesome if the doctor HAD told me to eat too much, while basically sitting on my ass for 2 days straight, but alas, no…)

I’d woken up on Christmas Eve still feeling a bit down/worried about my ongoing health situation, which I’d really hoped to have resolved by then. Although everyone keeps telling me it more or less IS resolved, and that there’s really nothing to worry about at this stage, the nature of health anxiety is that you just CAN’T stop worrying – especially when you have more medical tests and hospital visits hanging over you. Although I was privately convinced that I would basically NEVER be able to stop worrying, and just relax and enjoy myself, though, Christmas turned out to be just the distraction I needed, and by the time we got back home yesterday, having spent the previous two days at my parents’ place, I was feeling almost like my old self again.

I say “almost”: this is the first year in I don’t know how long that I didn’t buy something new to wear on Christmas day (I’d like to claim that this is because of my shopping diet, but I think you all know me well enough by now to know I’d happily have persuaded myself I NEEDED a new dress for Christmas, if I hadn’t been too busy worrying about everything else that’s been gong on to shop for one…), and I didn’t spend a whole lot of time taking photos, either, which is why these ones totally fail to do justice to my mum’s always-amazing table setting (or, indeed, the fabulous turkey dinner, which I haven’t included photos of at all, as they were just too dark and blurry…). Instead, though, I just tried my best to relax and appreciate the fact that we were all together, enjoying another great Christmas, despite all of the not-so-great things that have happened this year. I know I said this in >my Christmas Eve post, but these moments are precious, and can’t be taken for granted, so that’s what I tried to concentrate on.

With that said, and because I was starting to sound too cheesy for words there, some notable moments from Christmas 2016:

• Storm Conor almost blowing the roof off my parents’ conservatory, which spent the day draped in waterproof sheeting, and accessorised with an attractive display of plastic buckets, to catch the drips.
• The washing machine which Terry and I were forced to buy on Boxing Day last year, because the previous one had died the day before, deciding to break down on Christmas Eve, thus providing us with what I REALLY hope won’t prove to be a new Christmas tradition… (Luckily it was still within warranty – although only by two days! – so it will either be repaired or replaced for free: still, pretty annoying to spend two Christmases in a row without a washing machine!)
• Rubin dramatically crapping all over the dining room floor in the middle of the annual Christmas Evening Argument – sorry,  I mean “spirited discussion” – which, this year, was on the subject of ‘Is It Weird for People to Mourn Dead Celebrities As If They Really Knew Them?’, and featured Terry against everyone else in the room. To be honest, I was almost relieved when Rubin decided to interrupt us in such a dramatic fashion…
• Rubin doing the same thing AGAIN around ten minutes later, at which point we discovered he’d basically spent the entire day going around the house pretending to everyone that he hadn’t been fed in DAYS, with the result that he’d had FOUR dinners at that point, on top of all of the rest of the “what the hell, it’s Christmas!” doggy treats he’d managed to wangle out of us. (He’s fine, he’d just had way too much to eat. It didn’t stop him spending the entirety of Boxing Day begging for more, needless to say…)
• Watching ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ on Christmas day, and crying at the ‘every time a bell rings…’ line. Well, it has to be done, doesn’t it?
• Watching my parents use Terry’s virtual reality goggles and crying again, although this time with laughter.
• FOOD. SO MUCH FOOD.
• And gifts. It sounds really grabby and spoilt to say it, but once again, everyone was so generous, and we really appreciate everything we got.
• Realising right this second that I could actually keep on writing this list for quite a long time, and that there would be way more good things on it than there would be leaky roofs, broken washing machines, or inappropriately-pooping dogs. I have to keep some of those things for Friday’s ‘Three Things’ post, though, so I’m going to stop there for now. No need to thank me.

Anyway, I hope you all had equally wonderful weekends: now back to the couch I go…