For Ellie: My first Christmas without my sister

Christmas is a time for being with your family, right? Well this year it’ll be my first Christmas without my sister. Boo hoo.

I have two sisters and I love them dearly, so the knowledge that my older sister, Ellie, will be sunning herself in New Zealand is doubly horrible. I don’t get to see her in the flesh, but I do have to endure her ridiculous tan on Skype (life is not fair).

I have never had a Christmas not surrounded by my crazy family, and as I am the youngest I definitely do try to cling to the silly traditions we have. Yes, we must play board games on Christmas Eve, read The Night Before Christmas, and have an outrageous murder mystery party. However, I feel like I have been fighting a losing battle which is inevitable as people grow older. For instance, we no longer all come home and decorate the tree together simply because we are all too busy.

Now don’t get me wrong, I do like change as much as I like family traditions, and the future really does excite me, but annoyingly everyone in my family (except me) is reaching that age where Christmas starts to change. Soon they will be spending the season with their future husbands, or living in New Zealand.

The ones I love continually inspire me so I am trying (really hard) to see the benefits for my sister in staying on the other side of the world.

I mean, she gets the sun, breath-taking surroundings, no rain, no smelly dog and no fraught Christmas tempers. Plus the bravery it takes to fly across the world, completely independently, and live with people she’s only known for a few months is a gift not only to herself, but to all those who love her. Seeing her flourish is naturally rewarding.

This contentment did not come easy – I spent a considerable amount of time sending her corny Christmas songs, family photos from every year, and long soppy letters. Alas, no such luck, she is definitely staying out there and I needed to channel my thoughts into a positive perspective.

Obligatory Christmas family photo

Look how we’ve grown! This was taken last year at our annual boxing day murder mystery party

So, this will be the start of new experiences, which is wonderful!

We’ll be having another Christmas in May and that’ll be awesome. And, at the end of the day, there is no way I can deny all my life I have been outrageously lucky; now even more so, I get two Christmases! And I should be grateful for the fact that I have had so many years of memories to treasure.

So I shall look forward and next year plan a Christmas in some sunny continent myself.

Florence