A merry (little) Xmas to all

Dear family and friends, I received an old school artefact the other day tucked in with a Christmas card from a friend: it was a round-robin letter – one of those bulletins saying where everyone’s been and what everyone’s been doing.

How nice, I thought. It’s not like we’ve seen anyone much this year due to the Usual Reasons, apart from waving from afar, WhatsApp, and the odd Zoom interaction, so why not include a family newsletter with my cards?

Except… where could anyone possibly have been? What on earth has anyone done, besides surviving?

Well, I stopped reading my friend’s letter somewhere around the part that said she was completing a Masters in Gastronomy,
and went for a little lie down.

She’s already a captain of industry, a mother of four, a podcaster, and the queen of my (currently paused) book club, as well as three other book clubs because she reads that quickly.

In days of yore – 2019 – she breezily held dinner parties for 12, cooked from scratch.  I guess “Gastronomy” was inevitable.

So when I woke up from my restorative nap, I sat down to write this, my own letter. But first I just sat, with a cuppa and a biscuit.

Yes, my friends, it’s been a remarkable year. I reach Christmas poorer, heavier and sadder.

I’m sure you heard that my dad died in April, as ageing parents unfortunately will. I yearn for him.

In happier news, Himself and I have not killed each other despite the privations of lockdown, for which we credit Netflix, dogs and wine.

My older son has moved away, my younger son graduated and works in a Covid lab, and as for me I still have not found anyone
to publish my book, which I wrote three years ago.

However, this year I wrote another one, almost. Hope springs eternal, etc. I still present my weekly internet radio show, albeit
from my new home studio, aka my wardrobe. Or did.

The neighbours just chopped down a tree and managed to cut through our broadband cable too, so no more internet; no more Netflix.

We still have dogs and wine. Anyone, I’d better crack on with writing these cards.

Have a merry (little!) Christmas everyone. Jennie. X

Jennie Ridyard

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