It's fair to say that Oli and I, and I'm sure Mum and Dad have been dreading Christmas for quite some time. The original plan was for us all to go to Mum and Dad's house and we were going to do the cooking and entertaining so that Mum and Dad didn't have to do anything. Mum has been adamant for a long time that she didn't want to celebrate Christmas and she didn't like the idea of chaos in their house with no where to escape to, so my Aunty Katie and Uncle Paul volunteered to host instead. They live in Goring-on-Thames, approximately 15 minutes from Mum and Dad, meaning that Mum could come whenever she felt ready and leave again when it all got to much. If she wasn't able to make it at all then David and I would do relays between the two houses and take Christmas dinner to them.
It was touch and go whether Mum would make it today. She has been very poorly for the last few days and Dad told me that codine wasn't enough to relieve the pain that she's now experiencing in her tummy. A doctor visited the house on Christmas Eve and Mum is now back on liquid morphine. Another sign that things are heading downhill. I got the impression that the doctor was keen to re-admit her to hospital on Christmas Eve, but Mum didn't want to spend Christmas in hospital and apparently Norovirus was going around the Duchess of Kent, so she managed to escape it.
Katie, Paul and my cousin Alex did a great job of hosting Christmas. We had lovely fresh crossiants for breakfast followed by mid-morning tea and homemade shortbread whilst opening presents. Mum and Dad arrived just before midday and we had smoked salmon blinis and prosciutto canapes with champagne while we waited for David, Keri and the girls to arrive. Mum looked lovely and really very well today despite the reports from the last few days. She had make-up on for the first time in ages and looked really pretty.
Christmas dinner was delicious and Katie had done all her preparation in advance so we didn't have to lift a finger even though we had arrived with our sleeves rolled up to help. Mum managed to sit at the table for hours and didn't look like she was flagging at all. Dylan was a naughty boy and only ate 'pigs in blankets' and custard for his Christmas dinner. He was very happy though.
In the afternoon we opened more presents together, drank plenty of tea and enjoyed watching the children playing with their new toys. Mum was great at interacting with the kids even though she probably felt a lot worse than she was letting on.
She managed to stay to an impressive 9pm at night. She came upstairs with us and watched Dylan enjoying his bath before he went to bed. She even got involved with the party games and made such a effort to make it a day to remember. I was so proud of her!
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