Blue, blue Christmas

When I got the offer to come to Australia for the duration of my placement year, one of the first things that came to mind (after OH MY GOODNESS THIS IS SO EXCITING) was the fact that I’d be escaping an English winter. At first, the thought of spending the festive season in the southern hemisphere felt like something of a novelty; trading in snow for sunshine, sledging for sandboarding and a roast for a BBQ all sounded pretty great. However, as the day creeps nearer, it’s time to face facts:

 It simply does not feel like Christmas.

As Michael Buble would say, it's beginning to look nothing like Christmas. I've been trying to identify the root of my lack of excitement. Considering the past couple of years have involved me finishing uni with weeks to spare and heading down to Cornwall for all the usual yuletide preparations and build-up, maybe the fact that I’m working right up until the 21st this year is partly responsible, like it's crept up on me. But it’s definitely not just that; the weather, for one, is not conducive to getting in the festive spirit. I can hardly snuggle up under a blanket of an evening when it’s 40 degrees! Instead, the screenings of Love Actually and The Holiday have been accompanied by an ice pack and a fan inches from my face: not so relaxing. Hot chocolate is also out of the question!

The strange feeling I’d been harbouring about this situation turned into a fully-fledged festive funk when I Facetimed Rachel and Chloe on Wednesday night. As I’ve mentioned before, my twin Chloe is on placement in Iowa, USA, whereas Rachel is battling through final year in Bath rather than doing a placement. Chloe flew home to the UK last weekend for the break and I have been intensely jealous of her being reunited with all our friends, but her recent journey to Exeter to see Rach tipped me over the edge. There were my two favourite girls on my computer screen, tucked up in bed and sharing plans to venture into the city together to check out the Christmas lights and bringing up a lot of warm feelings and a longing for familiar faces.

Probably the biggest contributor to my lack of Christmassy feeling, however, is living by myself at the moment. With uni done until February, Jess is back in Dunsborough for the foreseeable future, leaving me to fend for myself in the new pad. This is literally the first time in my life I’ve ever felt lonely and I’m not coping well at all. I’ve been hanging out with friends from work as much as I can and Ross when he’s not working up in the mines, but nothing can quite replace the walks in the park and evenings in front of rubbish TV with my parents and doggy that Christmas brings. Add to that the fact that my darling big brother Jordan and surrogate parents Jane & Dave, plus all three of my grandparents, are all going to be at our house on Christmas Day and I am absolutely pining for Cornwall.

I know what you’re all thinking: “Oh man up for goodness sake woman, it’s only a year” and I’m trying to look on the bright side, believe me. Here’s what I came up with. Most importantly, there’s only one day of work left in 2013! Tomorrow night, after life at EaRN is officially done for the year, a few friends from the office are coming over for a few drinks, which also eliminates the loneliness issue, if only temporarily. I’ll spend my weekend cleaning the house and packing my bags and the Billinghams have invited me over on Sunday evening for dinner and a dip in the pool; their daughter is coming over from New Zealand for Christmas and they want me to meet her. So cute! Then, on Monday, the real adventure begins! I’ll be hopping on a bus that takes me down to Dunsborough for an epic two-week holiday with the McKiernans, the Boundy brothers, Chloe and John. Festive feelings or not, there’s bound to be an abundance of good friends, trips to the beach and reminiscing about the Shire. And Eagle Bay Brewery cider. Every cloud, right?

Tonight, however, it’s just me, a packet of M&Ms and repeats of Friends…