Misfit Advent

Christmas is looming.  Are you excited or stressed?

I must be getting old because I’m sure it was only yesterday that I was last dragging my tired old bum around the shops looking for the perfect gift for ‘X’ or the ideal stocking filler for ‘Y’.

The reality?  Every gift I buy for my mum will be returned - sleeves too long, neck too low - and every present my teenage son will receive will have been on a list of wishes.

Cynical?  Me?  Hell, yeah!  Christmas is for kids and, once they’ve grown up, just a little bit of the fun goes out of it.  Don’t get me wrong - we always have a great time, filled with our own traditions.  My mum has her stocking after visiting us for a homemade chicken curry (!) on Christmas Eve, hubbie and I have our stockings at midnight with a glass of port (OUR time) and then our HUGE son has his stocking in our bedroom in the morning - and I’m so happy that this is still his favourite part of Christmas.

But things change, don’t they?  Kids grow, families drift apart, parents age.  MY Christmases will never be the same again - they will morph and change with every passing year.

So, this Christmas I have some very simple wishes - for my mum to remain as healthy as she is for her age, for my son to stay safe and make the right decisions in life, for my marriage to remain strong and joyous and for a miracle that means I can keep the very leaky roof over our heads.

And, if I can be greedy … to a very special man who was a massive influence in my formative years - you might be a cranky old bugger, have a lot to answer for and drifted out of my life (and others) but you are still the person who I chose to give me away at my wedding and very much loved by so many - I wish you peace and I wish you well.  You may never read this but it’s heartfelt.

So, Misfit readers, what do you have on your list of wants this year?  Put aside the ‘I want the tree lights to work first time’, and ‘I’m planning on cooking the juiciest turkey ever’, or ‘I want the kids to love their remote control car as much as I do’.  What do you REALLY want?  What would make you happy?

Think about it.  Can you make it happen?  Can you give YOURSELF the gift you want the most?

Shameless plug - but I do need to keep that roof over my head - check out my Christmas novella here or my latest chicklit novel here.  The messages are the same - it’s the little things that matter.

Enjoy the mad lead-up to the festive season but, most of all, take some time to reflect.