The Twelfth Gift of Christmas

Well, Christmas is officially over and we should be taking down our decorations this weekend. I hope you enjoyed it and got something you needed over the holiday season.  I had a lovely break. My husband and I were lucky to be able to go on holiday to the sun over the Christmas period and we had a lovely relaxing time. We then came back to unusually snowny weather in Ireland. We also returned to the news that our Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Whatever your feelings about the cuts Mr. Lenihan proposed in the December budget, he has demonstrated great strength and dignity in his response to the media. He is married with two teenage children. The story was broken by TV3 (TV3 Article) on St. Stephen's Day the 26th of December, apparently in the public interest, but as Minister Lenihan said himself in an interview, surely the information could have been released on the 4th of January without any loss to the public interest. The media has a lot to answer for. I'm sure none of the journalists who broke the story would have wanted news of any disease they might have broken to friends and family in the same way.

I commend Mr. Lenihan for his courage and I wish him well with his treatment in 2010.

The Eleventh Gift of Christmas

Christmas is a fantastic time to recharge batteries and relax with family and friends. I know if you have small children and a family, there is a lot involved in terms of presents and food preparation, but hopefully once the main day itself is over, you can get a bit of time for yourself. Time to reflect on the year gone by. Time to plan for the year ahead and most importantly, time to sleep.

Working mothers in particular really need the time over Christmas to calm down and focus on themselves if possible. You may only get 6 hours sleep a night during the working year if you're lucky. If your husband or parents or parents-in-law can take the kids off your hands for a couple of afternoons over the holiday season and you go to bed for those few hours, ideally to sleep, or read fashion magazines, or just dream, that is real time out for you. This will hopefully move you towards 2010 reaxed and ready to begin anew. Try it, it works!

The Tenth Gift of Christmas

I heard yesterday that someone I have known for a number of years and looked on with great affection died very soon after retirement at the age of only 67. He was a very kind man and I was really shocked to hear of his passing. It just brings home to me every time I hear something like that not to postpone your life. Not to wait until everything is exactly right to do something. Don't wait until the kids are older to go backpacking - do it now! Don't wait till your house is immaculate before having friends over - do it tonight and have a potluck supper. If they're really friends, they won't care that they're not getting a five course meal.  If you want to study, travel, do up the house then begin the steps now to put it in place. Don't wait till later, till you retire and then sadly find there is no time left. Enjoy Christmas for what it is this year and look at the richness in your life. Don't focus on the fact that a mug leaves a stain on the coffee table, but the fact that your kids are all home. Don't focus on the curtains not being pulled just so and look at the healthy happy family you have created. Enjoy the present more than the presents!

The Ninth Gift of Christmas

I've just heard that Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon are splitting up after more than twenty years together. I always admired and respected both of them as actors and as people and am really sorry to hear that they will no longer be a couple. They have two sons together and Susan has a daughter from an earlier relationship. It's great when a relationship is going well, but for us all at times, we may have to say that there is no future in our partnership with someone and deal with the consequences. I am sure that Susan and Tim will have the strength and motivation to stay friends. Whatever kind of family we find ourselves in at Christmas, whether it's Mum, Dad and two children, or Mum and her new boyfriend, or single Dad, as long as we have other friends and family to share the holiday season with and support us, we'll get through it.