Worst Christmas ever?

The Big Day was different for us this year. We decided to take my wife's dad to church on Christmas morning, something I'm sure he must have done in an uninterrupted streak since early childhood. But the occasion was less joyeux and more les miserables. The choir outnumbered the bums on pews, and an atmosphere of doom and gloom lay heavy over the crib. Even the carol singing, tunes surely familiar to all of us, was lamentable, with my wife's and my voice clearly audible above the one or two others actually prepared to give voice. The vicar, God bless him, did his best to enliven the proceedings, but with little success. Is this how it is these days in the Protestant Church? I know church numbers have been steadily in recent years, but on Xmas Day?

Once we had given the FiL a snack ( he was looking forward to Christmas lunch with his fellow inmates at his OPH), we settled down for an afternoon and evening of  dark depression. My wife was missing her late mum; I was missing my dad; we were both missing my late son and we both harboured a sort of impotent guilt about her dad, apparently happy, but who can say? in his OPH. So we hardly ate a thing (I eventually persuaded my wife to have a plate of beans on toast with little sausages wrapped in bacon plus grated cheese). I think the only thing that marginally lifted our spirits out of the gloom was watching a series of topical animated films: Raymond Briggs's marvellous "Father Christmas", "A Christmas Carol" and "The Snowman and the Snowdog" (based on Raymond Briggs's idea, but unfortunately clearly demonstrating his lack of direct involvement).

Things did not begin to improve till the arrival of Boxing Day, when we pulled ourselves together a little and went on a lengthy walk, choosing a brief window of opportunity between extended "pulses of rain" as the weather men like to say. My wife and I are similar in many ways: neither of us has the capacity to stay down for very long before we strengthen our resolve and resolutely cheer up. But my God, I'm glad it's over and we won't have to endure it for another 364 days. And for that, I give thanks to the Almighty.