Unfortunately I was awoken at 2am this morning, not because of the Ghost of Christmas Past, he came at 1, no it was because I was in a great deal of discomfort. This abdominal pain decided to keep me awake for a while, which annoyed the hell out of me! I mean, c’mon of all days to get ill it chooses Christmas Day? Thanks a lot!
Anyway, I did manage to get some sleep before I got out of bed in the morning. But I’ve spent the majority of the day with it, how fun. It’s not really the pain that bothered me really, I’m more than used to it, it’s just the timing of it. You spend all month looking forward to Christmas and then when it comes, you’re ill. Brilliant.
So after Christmas Dinner, which I did manage to enjoy, I decided to admit defeat and head to bed for a while. Whilst lying in bed, it got me thinking about how annoyed I was at missing out on Christmas thanks to illness. But after a while I started thinking about all those people in the world who don’t even have the luxury of being with their family and friends on Christmas Day.
Those people who spend Christmas alone, people without family, people stuck in a hospital bed, working or serving their country overseas. These are the people I thought of whilst I was lying there in pain. It dawned on me at that moment just how fortunate I am to be home for Christmas, some people don’t even get that luxury.
The people I thought of most were the soldiers out serving their nation. Unfortunately war doesn’t stop for Christmas, it would be good if it did, but it doesn’t. Today, the Queen didn’t mention the troops in her speech, which I felt was a bit disappointing, instead she opted for a message about sport and togetherness in communities. One of the reasons we can even celebrate Christmas is because of the bravery of the servicemen and women, some of whom are stuck in a war zone on the 25th.
Barack Obama and his wife Michelle paid tribute to the American troops spending Christmas overseas:
“Today, we’re also thinking of those who can’t be home for the holidays, especially all our courageous countrymen serving overseas. They’ve been everything we’ve asked them to be, and even as we speak, many are fighting halfway around the globe, in hopes that someday, our children and grandchildren won’t have to”
A poignant and fitting message I thought, and it would have been nice if someone from Britain would have said something like that for our troops. I haven’t seen a mention of them today. I haven’t seen David Cameron all day either, he’s probably spending Christmas with his family, which is fair enough, but he could have at least recorded something. I just feel as a nation we’re starting to become a little too selfish when it comes to Christmas, and you can’t get much more oxymoronic than that.
All in all today has been a great Christmas, even if I was ill for it. Being unwell made me realise how lucky I am and that there are people out there in far worse situations than I am. It was quite a humbling realisation as I’d spent most of the day being irritated at the fact I was poorly and that Amazon hadn’t delivered my stuff. We take so much for granted at Christmas and in the end I’m just happy spending it at home with the ones I love.
Isn’t that what Christmas is all about?
I hope you’ve had a great Christmas yourself, and here’s hoping those who aren’t as fortunate as me today, will be with their loved ones sooner rather than later.
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