Hello all, I hope that whatever you’re up to you’ve managed to keep out of this horrible weather and have been so organised that you haven’t had to brave the shops today.
I’m at work so staying away from both the rain and the desperate shopping zombies, although I’d still rather be tucked up at home with a mince pie or three (Or a slice of this rather excellent Scandinavian Christmas Cake – which I really recommend you try.)
Christmas can be a difficult time for many families, especially those with loved ones serving overseas. While the “normals” get to enjoy their Christmas turkey all together there are thousands of Forces families whose festive highlight might be a snatched five minute phone call from a dodgy satellite phone out in Afghanistan.
I’ve always been lucky that so far The Boy has been able to avoid a Christmas deployment, and that the two tours he has done in the last five years have both been over the summer months.
He’s off again in January but has been lucky enough to be allowed home from Cyprus for Christmas, even if he will be whisked back to the Med before the New Year’s Eve celebrations can kick off.
We’re not actually spending Christmas day together. Instead we will both be with our respective families as I’m on call for work and have to stay down south, whereas with deployment (even though it’s only for three months) looming we thought it would be best if he fulfilled his “good son” duties and went off to see his family on Tyneside.
Instead we’ll have Christmas part two on Boxing Day and our presents are safely under our tiny little tree in anticipation (no peeking now!).
He’s been at home since last Friday and it has just been fantastic. We went off to London for a couple of days and got our culture on, as well as blitzing the Christmas shopping like nobody’s business and stuffing our faces with top quality Chinese food at the wonderful Kai Mayfair (an early Christmas treat).
We went off to Tate Britain to see the Pre Raphelites: Victoria Avant-Guarde exhibition, which was brilliant, and then to the V&A for Hollywood Costume , which I have to say despite it’s “lighter” subject matter was really really interesting. I never realised the amount of thought that went into creating costumes, especially for films set in the present day. And it did make me chuckle when The Boy, after gawping at Maximus’s armour from Gladiator, and James Bond’s Casino Royal dinner jacket, started lusting over the tweed suit worn by the one and only Edward Cullen in Twilight. Both of the exhibitions are on into January so if you fancy a day out or two I would highly recommend either one of them.
The best part of the week was getting to spend it with my lovely soldier, especially after I worked out that I had only spent three days with him in the last two months, and with another separation on the horizon – made worse by the fact that it was doubled from six weeks out in the desert to three months.
Even though I’m not going to be with my man on Christmas day itself I am fortunate that he will be safe and snug, and not out in Afghanistan (at least for the time being).
My thoughts however will be with those families, parents, wives, girlfriends and children who will have a loved one away from home, whether that is with the Armed Forces or not. I appreciate that for the mums, or dads, left behind to pull off a festive extravaganza without the presence of their partner Christmas can be a trying time and I hope that you are able to enjoy your day as much as you can, and that Santa will have swung that phone call for you.
Deployment is stressful at the best of times and I have a huge amount of admiration for those of you in the middle of it right now.
There are of course other families out there who are having to endure a rather more permanent separation and of course I will also be thinking of them.
Finally I wanted to say thank you to all those members of the Armed Forces out in Afghanistan, or elsewhere, away from their families, and of course wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year.
Army WAG 