Humbug

It was decided yesterday that Small Person will be spending Christmas eve and Christmas day at her Dad's. This is for a number of reasons (mostly to do with his parents, their insistence on seeing her open her presents and my reluctance to invite them to the flat) and will be a repeat of last year. I'm sort of glad in a weird way. Last year was everyone's first Christmas apart (I left the Ex in August, the Other Half left home in November) so it was potentially a very difficult time. It wasn't without its problems; notably a weeping, hysterical phone call from the Ex demanding to know why me and my GBF had had our Christmas dinner with Small Person the week before as she was saying she didn't want another one (this was resolved in the end by firm and repeated application of the phrase "what, in real terms, can I actually do about this?" which led to his eventual retreat) and, on leaving the Ex's house on the day itself (having been over to watch Small Person open her presents*), being presented with a card which read "To My Wife at Christmas" and a clumsy attempt at a snog (eeurgh). That aside, the Other Half and I had a wonderful day. We drank champagne, ate far too much and went for a drunken giggly walk through the park. It was an interesting exercise in the ability of the human mind to compartmentalise - I was missing Small Person, the Other Half had listened to his ex-wife crying on the phone that morning, we both had guilt and upset to deal with. Yet it remains golden and warm in my mind and I'm looking forward to more of the same (Now with Added Peace!!!) this year.

* Possibly the most pointless exercise on the Separated Parent's Guilt Spectrum. There is nothing to be gained for anyone involved from watching an over-excited four year old rend and tear through a massive amount of presents only to then feign indifference and demand last year's Barbie.