Bah, Humbug! - Keep Calm & Carry On

I need your help, please.  First, some background to the issue.

I'm the original Christmas Elf.  I LOVE Christmas. From the end of November, the carols play all day, every day.

Decor is installed gleefully; hours are spent contemplating the very best spots to place the decorations.  Every tree ornament lovingly unpacked, and a few minutes spent on them all, remembering the stories behind each and every one.  Complete with a glass of wine and a mince pie or two, roaring away to 'Snowy the Snowman' and 'Lonely Little Christmas Tree'.

The family head for the hills, and leave me to it.  Long gone are the days when the boys were as eager as I, and fought for the best position for their own ornaments.  We had a family tradition, begun when Keith was about 2, of buying a new, special ornament each year, for each child. It is easy to see when they were old enough to make their own choices - the tasteful, hand painted china and wooden ornaments were replaced by glitzy, tawdry plastic balls and beads, the bigger the better.  Funny how those, once the cause of some maternal decor distress, now get pride of place on the tree, because of the memories attached to them.

I think the endless carols get them down, and when I'm away, the tree lights are never switched on, but even the grinches have to admit that home is gorgeous, oozing luscious smells, warmth and love with the Christmas spirit and cheer in place.

So what's the problem, you ask?  Simple.  Keith, commuting between Phinda and Jozi, won't be here this year. Robert leaves in a week for Spring Break, and will be away for the best part of a month.  Alan comes home for 4 days early December, then is gone until mid January. From the middle of December I'll be in deepest, darkest Africa, on a beach somewhere.  Summer Christmas, far away from home.

Does it therefore make any sense to put the decorations up?  To haul down the unwieldy and large box containing the tree? Not even this elf enjoys breaking it all down after 12th night; nothing ever fits, something is always forgotten and left out - the fantasy gone, leaving dust and bits of tinsel scattered around.

All that work for a few days enjoyment, unshared?  True, the whole palaver is pretty much for my benefit, the boys have moved on from seasonal excitement.  I've told myself that I'm worth it, and it is for me anyway, but this year, the pep talk is not working. 

Somehow "Just for me" usually captions a long soak in a candlelit bubblebath, a night off from cooking dinner, perhaps even a pedicure.  Hours of hard, lonely labour hardly seems to fit the bill!

Perhaps it's time to create new traditions - we've been through the live pine tree in a pot stage (not recommended - mess everywhere, awkward to put ornaments on, and totally NOT a Christmas tree shape!!) we've had the modern African wire tree (lovely, clean and different, but lacking personality) and are back to the traditional Chinese plastic 6' wonder.  Should I get a pot bound indigenous tree, or one made from recycled paper?  Would this be less work, and still feel Christmassy?

The answer, I fear, is that Christmas for me is all about having the traditions and the family around.  I am sunk deep in  misery thinking of absent children - will Keep Calm and Carry On, decorating as usual, soothe my soul? Am I ready to embrace a more modern approach and acknowledge a summer Christmas (something else that bugs me being in the southern hemisphere this time of year!)

Let me know what you think - all ideas and suggestions gratefully received!