Cringe

N.B. All of the following 6 blogs are because I am reading ‘Do Nothing, Christmas Is Coming’ by Stephen Cottrell, ‘an advent calendar with a difference.’

It is true that most of us find our families terribly embarrassing. There are two ways to deal with this embarrassment – disown them, or embrace it. Everyone’s family is a little bit odd – everyone’s family does slightly weird things when compared to someone elses, and as I said to my friend Georgia today – everyone has at least one crazy, elderly relative that makes us all laugh. That’s life.

But as weird and completely barmy as my family are – I love them. And I love spending time with them. They make me laugh, and they give me something to smile about. They do stupid things, and they do amazing things. There is definitely something they are not – and that is boring. There is rarely a quiet moment in this house.

I guess that is why I am a bit sad that we won’t all be together for Christmas this year, like in years gone by. But then we haven’t ALL been together for Christmas for a good 8 years. But still. The extra time that I have taken to spend with them will not be in vain. It’s going to be great. J

DNCIC recommendations for today:

·        Take yourself less seriously.

·        The best comedies will not be on television this Christmas. They will be around your own table, if you can but see them.

·        Re-imagine the peoples of the world as a hugely complex, extremely muddled, wonderfully odd and riotously funny family. Enjoy the differences. Take proper account of the deep-seated simularities.

·        Say sorry a bit more.

·        Say thank you.

“One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one’s work is terribly important.” Bertrand Russell