A Christmas reflection

Tonight we put up the Christmas tree while listening to Christmas music (Sarah McLachlan's "Wintersong", excellent) and drinking a Muscat from Victoria (very tasty). We now have a sparkly tree complete with our spinning disco balls... the first time we've put up our tree in 4 years! Which means it will be our first Christmas in Austin for 4 years. This will be our 6th Christmas since moving to Austin, and every year our Christmas has been different.

2000 - first Christmas in Austin, brunch at the Four Seasons, movie in the evening, flew to Scotland the next day to visit my future in-laws for the first time!

2001 - first Christmas as a married couple (we got married December 2nd)! Spent Christmas with our friends Derrick and April and their respective families in Houston, then drove on to New Orleans for our honeymoon.
2002 - second Christmas in Austin with our friend Prue. Drank vast quantities of champagne, cooked what we thought was a chicken but was really a pouillard (partridge!), then played poker with some other friends, Marc and Karen, who joined us later that evening.2003 - 10 days of skiing in Whistler, Canada, just the two of us. Spent Christmas morning having breakfast at the top of the mountain, then skiing fresh powder down to the base. Christmas dinner in the local Irish pub.
2004 - Christmas in Australia. Santa sculptures on the beach, warm weather, seafood, Mum and Dad, Kate and Tim, Gordon. Great times.


2005 - Christmas in Atlanta with our longtime friends Shelley and Damien, and their friends Emma and Pete. Slightly weird way of opening presents - we waited all day to open presents, only to find out later on that everyone else had already opened theirs in private earlier that morning! Very relaxing, lots of wine, port, and Jenga.
2006 - third Christmas in Austin, just the two of us. We're having a Christmas Day open house, where we've invited all of our friends in Austin to drop by for half an hour or longer if they can. But alas most people seem to be travelling out of town, or have family commitments. Hopefully we'll have a few people turn up, if not we can just keep drinking and being merry!

We've certainly had some very unique Christmases the past few years, and I've loved every single one of them. But as I listen to the wonderful but rather melancholic Christmas music, and reflect on my earlier Skype chat with Mum and Dad (who I love seeing on video but which makes me homesick every time I talk to them now!), Christmas really is a time to be with everyone that you love. I'm lucky to have a wonderful man that I love and who will make Christmas so much fun, but I really do wish that I could have my entire family and friends surrounding me all day long. That would be the best Christmas present of all.