I’m having a slow day today. A bit of a house tidy up, and a good forensic scrub of the kitchen in preparation for Christmas meal preparation. It’s been a few years since I attempted a traditional Christmas, even pre pandemic I wasn’t great at it. So this year I’m taking a small run at it, tidy house, minimal decorations, one of those meal boxes that has all the ingredients and recipes all set out for you, the gifts are all wrapped and adjacent to a tiny tree.

The guest list is a little sparse, me, the kids, and the ex-wife dropping in and out during the day. The X is spending part of the day around the corner at her mothers house with her relatives, and the rest of the day hiding from them at my house. You could probably write a study on that, and why I’m happy to have my X here all day, but absolutely dreading a 10 min visit from my mother.

It’s now 6pm, and 30 degrees, the air conditioning is on for the first time this summer. The kids are in the kitchen doing preparations for tomorrow, beetroot dips and stuffing balls among other tasty things. I’m into hour 4 of a rock Christmas playlist on Spotify, and the last load of clothes is in the washing machine.

I’m currently streaming a fire on the Television, which is pretty much the only way to have a fire for an Australian Christmas, and I sort of convinced that even the fake fire is making the house too hot. I think I have done all I really need to do today, I don’t care if the house is not perfect this year. The kitchen is clean enough to cook in, and all the other rooms are tidy enough that I wouldn’t be worried about someone seeing them.

So I’m going to sit down with a drink, and toast to better days… the days that were better , and for some that hopefully will be again.

Cheers.