It’s Thursday as I type this, and yes, I do like to get ahead of myself, especially if I have the exciting treat of next year’s Amy Christmas book to write. Have I mentioned that I love research? Just a few times, and Jane Austen Christmas customs are such fun. So are English Civil War ones, especially when you find out that Oliver Cromwell thought mince pies were sinful iniquitie. Opinions, as so often in history, vary on this, which sums up history, doesn't it? When you look into it nothing is ever quite what you thought it was, but doesn't that sum up life too? What’s more, I am a rebel, so if I want a mince pie on Christmas Day or to talk while I eat it, I am going to have one, but not eat with my mouth full because there have to be limits don’t there? And yes, it does occur to me that I may not be very much of a rebel, but we all have to start somewhere, don’t we?
I’ve had two indoors days because there’s been horrible pollution following a fire at a recycling centre a few miles away. Add that to fireworks and grey, low skies and I started coughing as soon as I went out and kept doing it for the end of the day, and I got away lightly compared to my son who has asthma and an impressive collection of respiratory allergies. It’s 5.30 as I write this and I can have the windows open as well as my LED candles lit, which means that I can thoroughly enjoy the peace of a house where everyone else is sleeping.
Being determinedly positive, as I do try to be, this was good, because I’ve caught up with the boring but useful jobs. All my batteries are now charged so my candles can shine brightly, and not just the LED ones. I really must slow down more often, even though there’s so much I want to do. The bedroom’s tidy, and I shall finish putting the binding on my quilt today and here it is.
Nice Mr Amazon emailed me to say that the advent calendar embroidery I’m planning to do as part of the gift of me-time that I give myself each year at Christmas was delayed in customs and wouldn’t be here till mid-December so I found some alternative ones and ordered them. And guess what arrived a little later that day? But I don’t care because the other ones are gorgeous too. They finish into embroidery hoops and I’m planning to do them over a couple of years and then hang them from the curtain rod for the door curtain when I take down the advent calendar that hangs there on Christmas Eve. This will be the twentieth Christmas it’s gone up and it’s in the shape of a Christmas tree with big pockets for each day. I have suggested that my pair might have outgrown it, but the answer was a very definite ‘no’ and I like doing it so on we go. Since it’s just us, I might even admit that I found some nice Christmas kits on eBay too. There’s a time for kits, imho and I feel that Christmas should be simple and relaxing.
My pair of young adults have autism, so they don’t like crowds and noise and the sense of panic that I hadn’t noticed till they spotted it as Christmas grew closer so we long ago learned to go and visit Christmassy places and do all the shopping in November so that December the first marks the start of snuggle in time. This is when we have time to draw and make models and sew and read and listen to music and cook and watch our favourite Christmas TV.
We work out what we want to do by using a technique I find very useful. You simply need to ask ‘What sort of Christmas (or anything else) do I want?” Then you write down the first three words that come to mind and if things don’t fit them and you don’t absolutely have to do them then you don’t. So to finish, here are my twelve words for my whole family. What would yours be? And can you guess which three were mine?
Relaxed
Simple
Unwind
Christmas Tree
Decorations
Presents
Long walks and special treats
Quilting time and special TV
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