Dysfunctional Planner

It’s Friday 21st December

Christmas Day is in 5 days. If you are working right up until Christmas you may not have as much time as you think. Online shopping is now not reliable not even Amazon Prime delivers the next day anymore ( it sometimes does, but sometimes isn’t reliable). It is time to hit the shops on foot. Until that item is in your hands then you can’t guarantee it will be sitting under the tree.

Don’t let the panic set in!

Let’s be honest it is not the end of the world if the kids/ family/ cat doesn’t receive what they wanted on Christmas day.

Will there be tears and tantrums, maybe but probably not. Not getting a gift isn’t devastating or traumatic. Drama first thing in the morning is soon forgotten by lunchtime. Christmas is not about getting the biggest gift we know that. It is easy to get swept away in the Guardian top 10 of presents. Christmas is about friends and family and that is the most important part. It is time to really appreciate Christmas and what it is actually about and that will be you and who you are to them. The person running around like a headless chicken trying to give a wonderful day has tried! So let them enjoy it with you. Teaching your family patience and to be grateful is the best gift you ever give someone.

We have all lost someone and would give up every gift in the world to have them for just one more day, one more conversation.

My Nephew has asked for Venom Costume for Christmas. My sister is going crazy trying to find one. He declared the other day that it is alright she didn’t need to worry that Santa was going to get it for him. My sister is still in a panic but knows that Sebastien will understand that Santa may not be able to deliver that item just as mummy struggled to do. We will get over it and quickly. Kids are resilient. They are on to the next fad, costume or toy in a blink of an eye. And learning that you can’t always get what you want from an early age is a good lesson.

I have lost a fair few people over the years

But it is my uncle who I miss every year. We are family who just loved the meal, the turkey sandwiches, my brother loosing at Trivial Pursuits to his inferior sister ( thats me). We celebrated our Christmas’s in Jersey, France, Germany Scotland and all over England from North Yorkshire to Hampshire.

If we have to travel to be together then we will do it.

I don’t get to spend time with my family at Christmas as we live so far apart. So don’t even try to tell me that not receiving a gift is important. It’s not.

Love is

Family is.

Friends are.

So before you email or call a place of business to complain about a late shipment remember a few things.

• It was never devastating, dramatic or upsetting not to receive a gift.
• You obviously left it too late…. did you forget it gets busy at Christmas and parcels get lost and damaged all the time! Postal systems go crazy this time of year, did you forget that?
• The person at the end of the phone is not responsible for your parcel they just represent the company they work for.

So I truly hope you have a wonderful Christmas filled with laughter love and Joy. I hope you squeeze your loved ones a bit tighter this Christmas, look them in the eye and tell them how much you appreciate them!

and if your parcels don’t arrive on time…..

…….. well, its not really the end of the world, is it?