Christmas

I claim to be festive phobic. However, I know that I escape it to avoid the loss. Part of me found something to love in the awfulness of it all, a series of now-missing someones. Bear this in mind should you find yourself lamenting “having” to spend Christmas with your family: one minute you have to, the next you can’t.

from Hannah Betts, We Should Cherish Christmas, The Times, 21 December 2016