Swimming in freezing water doesn’t sound very appealing to me, but that’s how 100 people spent their Christmas morning in Hyde Park this year. As part of the annual Peter Pan Cup, a brave few whipped out their milk bottles at London’s Serpentine and raced to the finish line. Also, whilst we’re on the subject of water, right across the Atlantic we witnessed Trump shatter a little boy’s dreams by inferring that Santa Claus was in fact, not real (which is total nonsense – of course he’s real!) Oh, and the Queen did her usual TV broadcast, re-capping her year and reminding us all to be respectful to one another  (I may have missed this due to watching Netflix at the time…) 🙈 However, she has a point. And it made me think: What is Christmas to me? No turkey is cooking here because I’m one of those weirdo vegetarian types, no music is on because my Alexa Echo thing decided to bomb out on me this morning, and…well, I’m on my own – so who’s going to pull a cracker with me? Saying that, some of those cracker jokes…Man, they’re awful!

“Who hides in a bakery at Christmas…? 

A mince spy.”

Ayeayeaye…

Anyway, as I sit here on my Larry, wondering which box set to watch next and whether I have enough milk in the fridge to satisfy my tea obsession, I thought I’d ask everyone else – what is Christmas to you?

To me, it’s not about the presents or the food. It’s not about the decorations or carols. In my eyes, Christmas is about love. (I guess it’s really about Jesus being born, but let’s face it, not everyone that celebrates Christmas is Christian. So, in all due respect, this time of year has to be about what that moment represents, which, as I’ve said, is love). Family, goodwill, laughter, appreciation, fun, friends, literally all of these emotions, people or activities are what makes this time of year special. Providing we all put an effort into them, everything else that comes out of it is just a figurative piece of an unseen puzzle. Love is what binds us together. Pretty lights and nicely wrapped gifts are just tiddly-iddly elements of what evokes that feeling.

Lucky for me, I love tea and TV, so I guess I’m doing Christmas right, in a way. Although, it has to be said, not having my beautiful boy, Louis, here this year is very hard. To most, he was just a cat. But to anyone that met him, you’d have known he was a real character and that I absolutely adored the bones of him. Never would I have believed that he’d be taken so young, but I guess it just goes to show that you can’t predict anything. Thus, if you can take anything from this read about the theme of love at Christmas, let it be known, eh? You may not be able to put a cute bow or flamboyant wrapping on it, but, in my opinion, I think showing someone you care is the best gift anyone could give.

Merry Christmas, everyone!