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As I have mentioned before, my Christmas this year will be extra special.

Today we are meeting my sister, her partner and children (my two nieces and nephew) on one of their all-too-rare visits to England.

It will mean a little less blogging over the next few weeks. Although I will be posting on Instagram now and then.

We are going to do some nice things together.

Like…  staying in an apartment in London for a few days seeing the sights, shopping, and eating nice food.

Like… spending Christmas at home together.

Like… catching up on all that time we have spent missing one another.

My younger sister sees the sunny side. She has a way of making bad things good.

She is like a part of me. I feel incomplete much of the time I am without her. She is my only living blood relative, other than my own child and her children. I miss her more than I can express.

She is the one person with whom I truly share memories of my parents, now gone, rather than just recount them mistily to those who didn’t really know them.

When I was on the cusp of returning home from Australia last year, my heart breaking, with no idea of when we would see one another again, she told me not to think of the gaps in between our times together.

She said: we had had six weeks together. And that if you average that out over the time since we last saw one another, it was like spending every other weekend together. Which wasn’t bad.

So, whilst thinking about her forthcoming visit, I made a promise to myself.

I will not be sad, I will be happy. I will anticipate, and plan, and I will enjoy every single moment my sister is here. I will savour each precious day like a sip of rare vintage wine.

And I will try not to mind the gaps. ♥