Now that the Christmas hoopla has died down, I can spare a little bit of time to muse on the holiday season and look at a year gone by. In all truthfulness, I really enjoyed Christmas this year, simply because for once it wasn't filled with the drama that I usually experience. Instead of spending Christmas day with my deranged family and having a very uncomfortable and silent lunch with all of them, I instead opted to spend Christmas day with some friends of mine, and it was fantastic. I spent the morning at a spa with them getting rid of a year's worth of stress and trying to relax, but apparently I came out behaving more wound up than ever. Went to church in the evening, had a great dinner out with friends, and then curled up in bed, soaking up the leftover Christmas cheer. No family, no drama, no stress - I think this is the start of a beautiful new Christmas tradition.

2008 was a funny year for me. Although I didn't get to travel as much as I had planned to, I did make a quick getaway to London to escape work, and had a great time there. My love life stayed pretty much the same, which was a bit annoying, but we will see where that goes in 2009. Some exciting things happened at work for me, but I'm sure there's more to come in the new year - just hoping that I can cope with it gracefully!

But looking back on 2008, the one thing I've discovered is just how much my family gets to me. Sure, everyone's family gets in the way every now and then, but 2008 was just a plain fucked up year. So much went on around me that I hardly had time to stand back from the chaos to realize that it was affecting my health as well as my relationships with some people. Only much later in the year did I realize that I don't have to fulfill this 'savior' role that my parents seem to see me as. I'm fed up with every single family member trying to involve me in their drama and not really bothering whether I want to be a part of things or not.

So for the new year, I'm going to start thinking a little bit more about myself - as much as I love to give people a hand, sometimes it's not so bad to give yourself a little time away.

Or a facial - definitely a facial.

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