Family Christmas

Family Christmas

Family Christmas

Christmas always meant family to me. I grew up as an only child, but our Christmas and holidays were always a big occasion. The Grandparents house would gradually fill with Aunties, Uncles, Cousins, Nephews, Nieces and other distant relatives that appeared like magic each year. Slowly the house would be decorated, and a delicious aroma would emerge from the kitchen as the big day was prepared for. Boxes of chocolate, and oranges and chestnuts on an open fire. Christmas, when I was younger, wasn’t just the day but the whole month! The family would work out what day the movies were on, and they would be watched religiously every year, and the house would fill with music. Today a family Christmas is often smaller. Our families are global. I’m in Hong Kong with my husband and our children, but my family is in England. Christmas for us has changed and over the last few years, a couple of relatives would come out each year, but it hasn’t been the big Christmases we used to have. This year it will be just us. Borders to Hong Kong are closed unless you are a resident, so we will have no visitors. We have Skype, though, and although it is not the same, I still look forward to eating chocolates with my parents over Skype and sharing a glass of wine with a friend over FaceTime. December rolls on, and so do our plans.