the move that stole christmas

Moving around a month before Christmas meant sacrificing the flight home for the holidays. I've psyched myself up enough so that I knew what to expect, but seeing people leave the office for their vacation one by one was disheartening. When the last person said goodbye and happy holidays, I wanted to kick myself for staying. If I had gone home, I would've spent my Christmas with the family at the new place.

Our family christmas tradition has always been simple...just food at midnight and some gifts, mostly for the kids. Nothing fancy, no big reunions outside our (not so) small circle. But the excitement of waiting for midnight just so you can eat what was laboured over just hours before is always memorable. Every year, there's one kid that is either asleep or half asleep at midnight. At one point, that kid was me. But of course, there are now five of them who can have that claim to fame. For a few years we even had the kids wear coordinating shirts and/or pajamas. And kids being kids, there were a few musical numbers which they prepared for themselves.

This year, I bought my own pajamas and slipper socks and comfort food, armed myself with broadband access and a webcam and decided that my Christmas would be spent sleeping, surfing and chatting.

So...in a way, I wasn't alone on Christmas. I rushed home from work on the 24th just in time for midnight back home and I was sort of with them at that time. The kids had coordinating striped shirts, they had easy-to-prepare food (its never a good idea to cook to much anyway) and this year, it was decided that gifts would be skipped. As expected, someone was asleep when the clock struck 12...and as expected, it was the youngest member of the family.

Just being online wasn't too bad actually, until everyone back home goes to bed. That's when I had to raid my borrowed DVD stash (I am now into Family Guy) and comfort food. It got so boring that I ended up cleaning my living area, dining area, kitchen and bathroom in two hours. By midnight, I was asleep.

I think its safe to say that this will be the last Christmas I will ever spend alone.

(It wasn't that bad, really. It just wasn't that exciting either).