I packed up my car, prayed a little prayer, and hit the road...
I was a walking through the supermarket earlier, and some baby pavalovas caught my eye…
This Christmas is a tight one for many families, including mine.
To be honest, it”s been hard to enjoy Christmas as a single Mum for so many years.
I don’t just think about Christmas presents and food for my kiddoes, but I’m always considering the long holiday period ahead, and then the cost of schooling for the new year.
It’s easy to get caught up in the stress of it all and forget about how far we’ve come together.
I remember one Christmas when my (now ex) husband got me to pay for all of the Christmas presents, for his child and mine, and said that he would buy the Christmas food.
So, stupidly I went ahead and drained my bank account by getting the presents, without considering that it would (because he is a narcissist) probably backfire on me?
And sure enough, just one day out from Christmas we had a fight, he left, and we had no food and stuff-all money for Christmas day.
All I had in the fridge were some baby pavalovas and some cream – so I made them for our breakfast, while the kids opened their gifts.
My car was a piece of crap, but after bawling my eyes out all morning, I pretended to the kids that we were going on a Christmas adventure.
I packed up my car, prayed a little prayer, and headed to the far north, to my Mums house.
We stopped at a gassy and I got the kids a pie and an ice cream for Christmas lunch (they thought it was a fun adventure – not realising I used my last $20) and we arrived at my Mums in the late arvo, in time for dinner.
My car was over heating, so I had a couple of 2 litre milk bottles in the back, just incase.
I had bruises all over my aching legs, from where the husband had pushed me around the room (and Id tripped over the bed) and I had no money for the week. But I had my kids, and I had my family to escape to.
My car overheated on the way back home a couple of weeks later, and we were rescued by a truckie who gave us all the water he had on board. Then we only JUST made it to Whangarei repco, where I got radiator sawdust and a new cap, just to get us back to Auckland.
But we MADE it!
I was walking through the supermarket earlier and spotted some baby pavalovas, but instead feeling traumatized by them, I felt proud of how far me and my family have come.
So, this Christmas, we might not have a lot, but we have peace, joy and happiness – and that is better than all of the presents money can buy <3
Love you,
Mean it! x x
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