TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS
Hopefully none of you have been burgled…at Christmas time…. On Christmas eve… like me and my family!
I’m sure you can appreciate what a totally devastating and traumatic experience it was… but today I’m going to tell you how it turned out to be one of the best Christmases.
Of course it all happened one Christmas eve many years ago now.
I’d travelled up to Lancashire to be with my family. The previous year the traffic was terrible and I arrived late so my family left me and went out for a meal so I was ‘Billy No Mates’ in the house, Home Alone!. But, this year I’d made it, I was there, I was ready, we went out and had an absolutely fantastic time.
We came back to TOTAL DEVASTATION.
In the corner, a Christmas tree laden with spingly, spangly, sparkly lights, tree ornaments that we’d had since childhood – a pipe cleaner Father Christmas that looks more like a gnome high on . I see the burglars didn’t steal that treasure. Amongst the decorations, tiny tree ers totally wrecked, not from the burglars, but because my sister Samantha couldn’t wait until Xmas.
And underneath the tree was a HUGE void – an expanse of nothingness – not even a gift tag that’d fallen off the presents as the burglars made their escape.
Some of the presents were very special to me as I’d spent hours embroidering pictures for my sisters. Even today I scour the charity shops hoping to come across them.
With 5 emotional s in the house, of course we all burst out crying so my father left the room, phoned the police and put the kettle on. You just can’t beat a good brew!
Eventually the police arrived. In walked a tiny tot of a policewoman, with her little black notebook and even smaller pencil. Her job was to record all of the presents that had been stolen.
Now, here’s the magic part…not only did we say what we’d bought but we also said why we’d bought it and what that person meant to us.
Well, the floodgates opened:
- Did you really buy that for me?
- I would d it!
- Thank you soooooooooooooooo much.
- It’s just what I would have wanted!
Even today, as I stand before you, I can still feel all of their adorable love and affection. It wraps around and nurtures me every time I think of it.
And that’s why it was one of the best Christmases – that year, it really was the thought that counts!
Again, I had some very lovely and supporting comments:
- That was a very transporting speech.
- As warm and as expressive as ever. Your movements are ever so graceful: you look like a dancer.
- Making a connection in such a short space of time is wonderful.
- Very poignant, personal topic delivered with feeling and good humour.
- Thank you for transporting us into the bossom of your family. I was taken by surprise when you stopped and felt as if you were too loved by the policewoman. Awesome.
- You have good mudulation of your voice, you look confident and have stage presence.
- Take deep breaths if you feel nerves or emotional. You know the ending was a little weak...you will do even better next time.
I do know the ending was weak because I had to cut it short rather abruptly as I was far too emotional...even after all these years.
After the speech I was physically shaking, felt sick, had terrible stomach cramps and diarrhoea for the remainder of the night - all I know are symptoms of stress from the speech.
This talk was a little too close to home but I'm glad that I did it because the comments were truly supportive and showed that my message of 'valuing your family especially in the toughest of times' was totally heartfelt by all.
