Les Miss

I'm getting ready for a Christmas with a difference. With a lot of differences, actually, after my plans for cuddling cute children over an extended holiday were scuttled with an unhappy twist.

At one point this summer, I had a count-down underway until the day my brother, sister in law, and their three kids would travel home to Canada for a month-long visit. They moved to Brisbane in March, and while Skype and phone calls and videochats and email are all well and good, a 15 hour time difference is unwieldy and I miss them pretty badly. They sold their house when they moved, so my plans included sleepovers at my house for at least a few nights, and a few at my Mom's, too, where the kids would likely spend at least some of the holiday.

In late September, we got the news they weren't coming home after all, for a range of very reasonable reasons.

And so, I have no moppets to spoil, play with or tease. No one to take shopping or whose secrets to hear, no little people to tickle or whose hair to braid.

My nieces are 5 and 11, my nephew 9, so they're at a great age to be friends with, too, but since my sweetheart and I simply can't afford a trip to Australia just now, we will have to 'make do'.

We'll also have to talk to my mom via Skype, since she is taking an extended trip to be with the dear little ones. She will be with them for several weeks, which means lots of lovely memories being made in Australia, but no Mommy for me. Her absence and theirs reduces my family Christmas circle to my sweetheart, a brother who lives three hours away and my inlaws. Oh, and of course, our beloved dog, who tends to eat the presents.

This may not altogether be a bad thing. Sweetie and I have complained loud and long about the vast pile of events we are faced with every year. It has seemed to us that we were on a "dead giddyup" most of December, with extended family gatherings, office parties, the party we host for our friends and all the family 'things' we simply can't miss between Christmas Eve and the 27th. Most years, we have had trouble finding time for just the two of us. This year, we'll find out how much 'just us' we're interested in.

We are still attending our office parties and hosting a party for our friends, but Sweetie's extended family has decided not to have a get-together this year. We will go to church on Christmas Eve and afterwards have drinks and snacks with Sweetie's siblings and mother, but we won't have Christmas Eve Tourtiere with my parents beforehand.

We are still having a traditional Christmas dinner with Sweetie's family, but we're not having Christmas morning at his mom's house or Christmas Day brunch at mine.

On the 26th, which has long been the traditional Christmas dinner for my first family, we'll be completely our own.

The number of events has been reduced by about half, and while not being in the presence of my moppets might well make me miserable, having the chance to see Les Miserables on Boxing Day might just make things a little happier chez nous.