Your loved one is away in a war zone.... be it husband, partner, daddy, mummy, brother, sister...it is a hard time at best but add into the mix Christmas festivities and this can transpire as the hardest Christmas you'll ever have.
Christmas spans over weeks, it is a long drawn out process of parties, school fayres, get togethers, giving and sharing, laughter and smiles...with a loved one away, in our case Tony, it can be like swimming against the current at times. Flying solo at the work Christmas function was tough, not having presents to wrap and put under the tree is strange, for him not to be at Madison’s nativity and Carol service breaks my heart a little and it can evoke feelings of utter resentment to those that do have their family unit together, for them this is a normal Christmas just like any other.
Lack of contact can compound these feelings and emotions of feeling alone at this time of year, walking into a shop playing 'Lonely this Christmas' by Elvis and I am out that door quicker than I walked in!! recently we had a spell of 9 days with no contact/communication at all which the week before Christmas was really tough...but then we had a call and spirits were lifted and Christmas becomes achievable and normality of mood returns.
Madison is 7...Christmas is exciting with or without daddy, obviously she misses him but we have been here before, Christmas will come and go and we come out the other side...When asked how she feels at this time of year Madison said ' It feels really sad and worrying everyday when Daddy is away, but I have written my letter to Santa and the tree is up, I have drawn a picture for my daddy and HomeFront Forces are putting it on the site for him to see. Hopefully my daddy will call on Christmas Day and I will be with my Mummy'
In terms of how to get through this time as unscathed as possible...take loads of pictures, smile as much as you can (they will be out there wearing their Santa hats and having Christmas lunch) and enjoy friends, family and a couple of days relaxing. Its not easy but draw positives that everyday they are away is a day closer to your jigsaw being complete once again.
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