My families adventure on the road to oz via Germany

The best and the worst time at Christmas!!!!!!!!

For my boys this Christmas has been the best ever, we kept the suprise going about center parks till we got there. The smiles on their faces was pure magic, the laughter and excitement was infectious.

We arrived on christmas eve in the afternoon, after un loading the car and taking the dog out for a walk we explored     Bispringer Hiede while it was still light. We had tea and got back to what was to be our home. Once the 3 monsters had gone to bed V and i enjoyed a glass or 3 of wine while the natural events of santa unfolded.

The next day (or should i say a mere 3 hours later) we heard has he been yet? loudly whispered. At 4 in the morning we managed to persuade them that it was too early. WE finally gave in at 6am. Opening their pressies the kids had smiles that could light up the world, Ds lites for D and C and J got a dvd player(he thought it was a lap top). When they saw the snokles they just wanted to test them out straight away. Once the swimming paradise opened up at 10 am we were there. In my whole life i have never spend christmas day in a cossie in 30.c water, it was brill we finally left there at around 3pm feeling hungery. the boys choses to eat burgers and all the junk food i would normally frown at. But this was their special christmas and i was not going to spoil it for them.

The rest of the day was a blur of activities and at around 7ish we found a pancake house and had tea.

Unfortunatly for me chosing an italian pancake was not a good move for me.

Boxing day, I awoke with severe chest pain and unable to breathe, it was like the worst heart burn and indigestion i had ever experienced, so i spend the rest of the day in bed sleeping when i could and trying to sip water to ease my pain.

V took J to the cowboy and indian activity i had booked him in to and the other 2 played on their ds's for a while. Then in the afternoon the boys promised their dad they would behave if he took them swimming again. So off they went leaving me in the land off nod. Sometime in the afternoon, my mobile went , i knew it must be an emergency as our families knew not to call while we were on holiday.

On answering it my whole world shook when i heard my dad say, Mandy ive got some bad news, your granmas died suddenly in hospital.

AS i was ill it caused me to virtually collapse , i managed to get on to my bed and i must have sobbed my self to sleep. When i awoke it was dark and i reied to shake my self together . I ran a bath, i did not want my boys too see me in such a state. V walked in just before i got in the bathroom. He gently told the boys and they took it well, better than i was. WE had decided we would still continue with the holiday and i would try and join in with what ever we had planned. I did not want to stop the boys fun.

The next day the 27th i awoke with stomach cramps and the trotskies in a bad way. Thankfully by 11 that had cleared up a little(as long as i only had mineral water). Again we headed to the pool, i spend most of it sat on a deck chair watching the boys having fun. J now is the proud owner of a body board and he proudly showed off his 'surfing skills' when the wave machine came on it cheered me up no end seing the boys having fun. Once the memory of the camera was full i decided to brave going in the water. I inisted that i found the whirlpool and chill in there, while the others went down the various slides and chutes. J had to stay with me . (He split his head open a few days before we left) we told him even though he had a swimming hat on he could not go down the big slides as he would go under the water too much. Luckily the baby pool had various slides that amused him where i could supervise him.

Our final day on the 28th was spend trying to pack the car and buy those last minute goodies we had promised ourselves.  2 hours later we were home and more or less back too normal.

It was a day that i finally had a long discussion with my younger sister about what had happened to our granma. Mam was too fragile to speak .

Today i finally got to speak to my mam, both of us trying to make arrange ments for me to travel back to the UK , it was a difficult conversation, trying not to break down.

Its only when the kids are in bed and im truely on my own that the tears well up as i think of how much my granma has meant to me. She was a lady that i admired for many a year, she ran youth clubs in her 50's and 60's only giving up when the dwindling amount of children gave up coming.

She tirelessly raised thousands of pounds for charities.

 It's only been the past 10 years that i found my self getting frustrated at her for no longer taking care of her apperance and letting her standards of hygine slip.  I shall try not too dwell too much on those years, but on the years when she was at her best, when she battled with my parents to allow me to go in to nursing and to start 'going out' with V. She always saw the best in me and for than i owe her everything.

I shall miss my Gran so much , she was my confidant and my champion.

The last time we spoke to each other before moving to Germany, she knew we would not have much time together as she told me not to forget my dreams and if we got to Australia before she died she still wanted us to go.

Her motto in life was dont look back always look forward , so i shall try my best to live up to her motto.

Despite my granma's untimely death we had a fantastic christmas and hopefully as the raw ness of the grief im feeling eases i will remember the fun we had more than the saddness.

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12:15, Sun 30 December 2007 .. Posted by herrchook

Oh Mandy, I'm so sorry to hear of your loss. She sounds like quite a woman. Hope the trip back to the UK is not too painful.

Gill

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08:09, Sun 30 December 2007 .. Posted by poppets

mandy so sorry to hear about the loss of your gran, my thoughts & prayers are with you all. safe trip to uk, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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02:14, Sun 30 December 2007 .. Posted by Scrawni 2

Aw, I'm soo sorry about your gran. I am going to see my gran this week and I realise it could be for the last time. ((hugs)) Just look after yourself, thinking of you.