18 days to go

In 18 days time, we will be flying half way around the world to spend our Christmas holidays in Europe. It has come round quickly, and we are busy making the final arrangements - day tours that we want to go on, plotting out which museums to see, and Christmas markets that we will visit.

We arrive in Amsterdam during their Light Festival and have booked a canal cruise around the city to view the light installations that are on show. We are seeing a Bayern Munich soccer game in Munich, and going to the Casse-Noisette (Nutcracker) ballet on Christmas Eve in Paris.

This is the consolation prize. We don't have children, and some days that is a bitter pill to swallow. But we are making the most of our lives anyway, and this is a very delightful part of that.