A little struggle but much hope

We're still struggling with some personal stuff, nothing to do with the boys, but we all certainly have been better! Today, on the winter solstice, I am trying to concentrate on the good things we have and how grateful I am for them. I am also wondering how to fix what is damaged and make some good plans for the future. I enjoyed going out to watch the sunset and lighting candles and the fire in our fireplace, it was very comforting.
I also spent a good two hours this morning finally booking our train adventure Leicester to Rome, we leave on the 3rd January and we are very excited. We will be catching three trains including the sleeper Paris to Rome which Reuben calls the sleepy train! And spending a couple of hours in Paris, hope there's a chic Parisian playground near the station!!!

I am a little ambivalent about Christmas as it all seems to be about the presents, in our current state of mind we've not been able to muster much seasonal cheer and not being in a Christian environment makes the celebration a little abstract for the boys. I have been talking to them about this time of the year being important for many reasons and they saw a small nativity play the other day so they might slowly be making sense of it. I hate lying about Santa but my partner has forbidden me to ruin the magic so we have come to a compromise where the boys know that relatives but them presents but Santa delivers them... A sort of glorified postman really...

So I remain ever optimistic and hope things will take a positive spin soon, I look forward to seeing my family in Italy and maybe the boys can finally start speaking some Italian... Bilingual unfortunately they are not!!