Reflections on: Christmas 2024
Christmas can be the best of times. It can also be the worst of times. It is a time for gathering together of friends and family; but it can be a time when certain friends and family members are sorely missed. This year was the first in 26 Christmases that two of our daughters were not here to share it with us. Both were Down Under in Australia, celebrating in a tropical garden and on the beach with blue skies and a temperature of 28 degrees, 11 hours before we even thought about opening our stockings and sipping a glass of Buck’s Fizz over the breakfast panettone. In years to come there will be many more of these where we are not all together and it’s something I will have to get used to… For many, it may be the first Christmas without a family member who has passed away earlier in the year. My elderly neighbour lost her husband in the dark dank days of November and I felt her pain as we similarly lost my father in mid November 10 years ago. I remember putting a cracker on the table f...
