Christmas in Parentville
Well, Christmas went pretty well. We drove across on Christmas Eve and the roads were pretty good, though there were some dicey moments in Worcestershire, as expected. Got to Parentville at about five, and was in church at eight for "Midnight" Mass. Because there hadn't been any rehearsals to speak of (and what there had been had been very poorly attended), a lot of things had changed from four-part harmony to "Sing chorus in unison and Epistrophia will sing verses as a solo" or "To be sung by Epistrophia as a solo". It was hard work, but the running order had been reduced significantly, so not a killing amount of singing. Though I did feel a little self-conscious, since it felt a little bit like "Look! A Concert By Epistrophia!".
It was very empty, about a quarter of the people who are normally there - not surprising, since the road outside was pretty much sheet ice. The Husband drove me and The Mother there and picked us up, and I am So Glad I didn't have to drive on that road. She found the whole thing very difficult. I didn't, really, though I don't know why; church choir was always something Daddy and I did together. I know that Easter is going to be extremely hard, though; he used to sing various solos and he always belted out the tenor line to Thine Be The Glory with all his might.
The rest of Christmas went smoothly - Himself and I stayed with Mum for the whole time, and she was kept pretty busy feeding us, and The Sister and her new bloke, so she said she found it a lot easier than she'd expected. New Year was very difficult though - we were away overnight with the in-laws, and she hates New Year anyway. But she spent it with friends who refused to allow her to go home at ten o'clock when she wanted to, and when I saw her the next morning she was okay.
As usual we were very busy trying to see lots of people, and, as usual, we missed lots of people out (sorry, Marion). Also as usual, there was some minor car trouble, necessitating cancellation of some plans while it was fixed (very simple - problem with ignition coils). That meant that we were stuck in Parentville during the day on New Year's Eve, which was a very good thing, because we were both desperately in need of sleep and peace and quiet, and I think if we'd done what we were planning to do that day we'd have ended up so tired we were ill.
We've been back home since Monday. I was very ready to leave Parentville then; I'd been really depressed and low-self-esteemy since the 1st. Not sure why, except that I was probably focusing too much on the New Year meaning a New Start and Drawing A Line Under Things and so on, and really, it was just another day. I'm feeling better now since being home. Himself is off work this week, so we're doing lots of little jobs around the house, which have needed doing for Ages.
(ETA: accidental early posting)
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