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Why It Doesn't Feel Like Christmas

Let me first wish you all Happy Holidays - whatever you might be celebrating - and a Happy New Year.

I will definitely not be updating until the second week of January.

I am spending a week in the south of England with D's grandparents for a traditional English Christmas - crackers and all.

Then, us "jetsetters" fly off to Tunisia, Africa for an all inclusive week long holiday and to celebrate the New Year in the desert.

Let me leave you, though, with the thoughts that floated around in my head as I tried to find something interesting to leave you with for the next few weeks.

Why It Doesn't Feel Like Christmas...

1 - Because there is no snow. And in place of snow there is not even real rain but the misty pissy kind that hardly justifies an umbrella but gets you wet just the same.

2 - I have not bought my family any presents specifically because my favourite part of Christmas is watching them open up that perfect gift that I have found for them. That and shipping them from here would cost more then they are worth.

3 - Because the presents I have bought were thoughtful but I know I will not get the reaction that usually comes from my family members about their presents, at 7 am, in our pjs, Christmas morning.

4 - Because I am packing stuff for the beach !! and flying out to Tunisia in a week.

5 - Because I am trying not to think about how much fun my family will have on Christmas without me there so why not pretend...it's not even happening!

6 - Because I have been so extremely busy flitting around Ireland promoting books that I don't actually even believe its December yet...where did November go?

7 - Because even with all the Christmas lights that line the Belfast streets, the decorations and wrapping paper that fill the shops, the people that buzz around, in a frantic panic, as though the world will end on Dec. 25, it is still not home.

Missing you all and thinking of you this Christmas

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