Christmas

The year is coming to an end, and boy, what a year it's been!

Of course, the biggest change to our family came in June, with the arrival of our gorgeous little granddaughter. Baby J has added so much to our lives. We can't remember when we were this busy, but we adore her and she is just so rewarding. Of course, at 6 months of age now, she is really developing her own little personality and is very interactive with everyone.

Our daughter, through becoming a mother, has grown so much. She is a happy single mum - gone are the bad old days when having a baby on your own at a young age was considered "ruining your life". She has a good, supportive social group; they're a good mix of single friends as well as other mums of varying ages. She's also gone back to work two days a week as a hairdressing apprentice, which is great for her confidence, and those are the days the baby goes to her Daddy's house. Our daughter and her ex work together to include both families in their baby girl's life and she brings everyone so much joy.

We usually have a big Christmas at our house, with family coming from a couple of hours away to spend the day (or a few days!) with us. This year is looking a little more low-key, as it will just be the Caveman's mother joining us for the day. We will have a couple more family members arriving on Boxing Day, but won't be seeing our eldest son who lives a few hours away - he came for a visit last week though, so that makes up for it somewhat.

We haven't had the same happy, excited mood we usually have leading up to Christmas. It's a combination of me working a lot recently, the Caveman dealing with some mental health issues, us all being busy and muddling our way through a couple of financial struggles. Things have been hard, that's for sure. However, as the big day has been drawing closer, I've found I'm getting a bit more enthusiastic about it. Perhaps it comes down to the effort that goes into choosing a gift for someone you care about. Up until I had time to focus on what I was giving each person, I just didn't have time to really care about it.

Anyway, now it's Christmas Eve and we have everything ready for a pretty casual day tomorrow ... the best kind of Christmas, really. Of course, our baby grandaughter having her first Christmas is a pretty big deal, so we are all looking forward to that.

The important thing, as always, is that we get to spend time with loved ones, remember those gone and enjoy the moment while we have it.

Senior Moment

I wrote a blog post in 2019 about a funny moment I'd had with a client at work. I was making the man's lunch when he looked me up and down and commented, 'you know, you've still got an alright figure for an old bird.'

I was a bit shocked, but we shared a laugh about it and moved on.

I do recall thinking at the time, "Wow, I must be starting to show my age." Luckily, I was able to laugh at the absurdity of the comment, coming from a much older person, and didn't let it bother me too much.

I was reminded of this moment recently, when my Caveman had an unfortunate experience. He was walking through one of our local shopping centres and a small child who was running ahead of his mother almost ran into his legs. The mother called out to her son, "Be careful, you nearly bumped into that old man!"

Now, this poor "old" husband of mine turned 50 this year. Granted, he has less hair than he used to, and what he does have tends to stick up at all angles in a "mad professor" style. He is currently wearing an outdated pair of glasses because his good ones are broken and he's waiting for a new pair to arrive. He also walks with an awkward gait - this is partly due to his autism, but mainly because his body is a little worn out from his previous life as a semi-serious cricket player. Of course, we also became grandparents this year. But to be referred to as an OLD man?

Naturally, this didn't please him. He confessed to me later that he was actually a bit hurt when it happened. Luckily, by the time he was back in the car and driving home, he was able to see the funny side of the incident. As a result, he was able to tell us all the story of it that night, knowing that we would give him a bit of gentle ribbing about his age. Which, of course, we did. I mean, how could we not?

I did point out to him that the little boy's mother might not have taken a good look at him ... or she may have even realised her mistake and berated herself as she walked away. He responded that I'll be 50 myself in less than a year from now and to see how I feel when it happens to me. He has a point. None of us like to be mistaken for being older than we are. For now though, I don't feel old yet and I don't believe 50 counts as old anyway.

Of course, we'll see if I'm still that positive about it when the time comes!