A Gift from Friends – A Garden Path <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n
With a week to go until the \u2018big day\u2019 and Ian working full-time, the walls needed painting, the wooden floor was still to be laid and varnished and the central heating system and cooker needed to be wired in and tested.<\/p>\n
Despair was sinking in as temperatures began to plummet and we were talking about delaying Christmas Day… the children would never know… and all the while the mice continued to breed.<\/p>\n
As if the self-inflicted stress levels couldn’t get any higher, and probably as a result of them, Mr G came down with a chest infection and our children became more hyper by the hour in the tiny sitting room, thoughts of Santa arriving in a few days time making them increasingly more difficult to entertain as solstice came and went.<\/p>\n
Then two things happened. The Gerry Ryan Radio Show rang us just after 9am and we shared our story live on air. Gerry stuck his hand into his Santa Sack and we \u2018won\u2019 a DVD\u00a0player, a pile of DVD\u2019s, CDs, tee shirts and an expensive bottle of pink champagne that was hand delivered by the off license on Christmas Eve. The lift to our spirits at the generosity of a stranger was indescribable.<\/p>\n
Secondly, between the two of us working ridiculously long days, we managed to tick off all the jobs so that the last coat of varnish went on the floor boards at around 4am on Christmas Eve morning. The wait for the varnish to dry seemed to take forever but by mid afternoon, I unlocked the door and showed our empty but sparkly new kitchen to our children.<\/p>\n
With just four walls and a clean floor, they couldn\u2019t believe the space. They slid and ran and quickly found all their toys that had wheels on, whizzing them around the smooth surface, their laughter and happiness contagious.<\/p>\n
Between us we put up the tree that we\u2019d found the day before \u2018just in case\u2019 we had somewhere for it, covering it with baubles and tinsel and egg carton decorations our older two had made at the rickety caravan table, surprising their Daddy that evening when he came home from work. The scent from the evergreen needles mingled with the fresh varnish and paint but the sun streamed through the clean windows, shining a light into the room that filled it with warmth and hope.<\/p>\n
Later that evening, with our children fast asleep in the mobile home, their stockings carefully arranged around the base of the tree, we crept out and began moving furniture into our sparkly new kitchen. A table and chairs, a high chair, a shelf unit, small sofa and coffee table, a toy box, fridge freezer and all the cooking utensils to cook our first turkey as a complete family.<\/p>\n
We didn\u2019t have a sink or tap until a couple of weeks later, but we didn\u2019t care, we\u2019d wash up in the caravan, or in a bowl on the table. The important thing was that we\u2019d be warm and happy. As we stood back and admired the room, way after midnight, we felt complete.<\/p>\n
On Christmas morning when our children awoke, we took their hands and led them into their new home that for now was just one room in a crumbly old house. Their expressions were priceless as they took it all in – the gifts, the decorations, the warmth from the cooker as it was fired up for the first time to cook the first of many Christmas breakfasts.<\/p>\n
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Eleven years ago on Christmas morning, we moved into our new kitchen and never moved out. We swapped our cold floor bed for a warmer floor until bedrooms were ready many months later. It was almost two years after leaving our rental accommodation that we ran our first hot water tap indoors and as a result, have never taken water for granted, nor the pleasure of climbing\u00a0under the covers onto a warm mattress, finally ridding ourselves of foam cushions and air beds…<\/p>\n
As a result of our experience, we always feel grateful that we’ve been able to put a roof over the heads of our family, even though it\u2019s taken every last cent of our money and years of our time, something our children may never, truly appreciate until perhaps, they have families of their own.<\/p>\n
Instead of posting Christmas cards this year, we’ve donated money to the Simon Community.<\/a> Life was difficult for us in this early years but we had a roof over our heads. An unacceptable amount of people wont have that opportunity this Christmas.<\/p>\nThank you for taking the time to read my posts and articles, I really appreciate you doing so and hope that you have a wonderful time over the next few weeks during the festive holidays. See you in the New Year!<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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If you enjoyed reading this post you might like to read some other Christmas memories shared in Dr Hows linky<\/a> and join in if you have some memories to share.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As memories flood back to this time 11 years ago, we’re thankful for the slate roof that sits over our heads.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1797],"tags":[1828,2075,2074],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Christmas Past - A Family Reflection<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n