Christmas: My favourite time of the year. Growing up in a Christian country, my sweetest childhood memories are singing christmas carols, Father Christmas visiting school and giving us gifts, the christmas card postbox at school, christmas lunch, seeing the christmas tree, pantomimes and many, many others.
The sweetest memories of all are those of my grandmother. This will be my first Christmas without her. Days are filled with activities that remind me of her – Christmas was her favorite time of the year, where she spoiled us even more than she did year-round (which was hard to do!) There are so many Christmas memories with Nanny – her taking us to see Father Christmas at Harrods, christmas lunch in Kensington and of course, spending christmas day with her . In the last few years, I would take Nanny to buy christmas presents for the family and help her wrap them, a shopping trip that she would look forward to for weeks.
A lump forms in my throat when I realize that this will be my first christmas without her – no shopping trip, no christmas card with her familiar writing and no seeing her and hearing her brighten up when she saw us and wished us a merry christmas. A large part of Christmas will be missing this year, and my heart fills with sadness when I realize that this is the first of many more Christmas’ to come without her.
Until I see her again, I’ll continue to remember her – year round – but especially at Christmas.
Season’s greetings Nanny, wherever you are. x.
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