Dear LPG,

Now that the winter is setting in and Halloween and Bonfire night are well and truly over, if we have not already started thinking forward, it is most probably time to target our thoughts on the next annual event of the year.

Christmas is the holiday that consumes the thoughts and plans of so many residents of the world’s northern hemisphere.  Winter snow, presents and that all-important family meal are the components that come to mind for most, while those with family who live on the southern half of our world are more used to a nice warm celebration.  

Last year so many of us missed the opportunity for a physical family get-together that we only really do annually, because of the whole pandemic situation we all found ourselves in and, as a result, I suspect that for many, plans and preparation for Christmas 2021 is all the more important (assuming that it is not cancelled again this year).  

But I bet that being able to have avoided that family get together last year may well have made one questionable aspect of celebration, that often comes up at this time each year, more difficult to deal with.  We have now had two years to make all those mistakes that have resulted in an adverse effect on our relatives and friends without getting that apology in, and we all know how time allows such grievances to grow, no matter how minor they were in the first place.

Christmas is traditionally the time when we try to put things right, or at least come to some sort of finding of the tolerated middle-ground if you both think that the other was in the wrong, and I must admit it, I have also said and done a thing or two which, now I look back on what happened, I think I could have handled it better.  I undoubtedly think that it might be time for an apology.

But time makes it all the more difficult to get it right, and the other aspect of the whole thing is how you react to the vocal admission of guilt, the note that is thrown in with your Christmas card or that dedicated letter, email or text offering the sentiment.  Perhaps now is the time to plan for this aspect of Christmas whether you feel you need to put pen to paper and make an effort to be forgiven or you need to make the effort and do the forgiving.

As I say, I have some apologies to administer myself and so I had a look online to see what advice the internet can offer, and I hope by focussing on this point today I can inspire a few fellow readers to start their Christmas apology journey no matter whether an apology, some offered forgiveness or good old-fashioned compromise is the way forward... 

JL, Beckenham.

JL shares her findings…

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