Elin,
That was a beautiful story it brought tears to my eyes.
Christmas has been pretty melancholy for us. My partner was raised by psychopaths. Her mother was a complete nut job and her father was just a real piece of work. Her mother really should have followed those instincts she had, and taken the three year old and ran, but folks just didn't do things like that in those days. As a result, many years of therapy have turned Fran into a wonderful person, but she has never enjoyed Christmas. Their family never celebrated it, in fact her father became meaner and drunker at the holidays, so she never really has enjoyed it as much as I have tried to make happy memories.
A few years ago my sister and her family moved away from my parents area to Seattle. Because of Fran's RA, she can't visit such cold climates in Winter as her joints freeze up and she can't move. Now we split the holidays between my sister with my parents. The one who gets them at Thanksgiving is alone on Christmas. This will be our second Christmas since Fran's parents are both gone and we're planning on going to Las Vegas, we're at
Disneyland on NYE. I'm hoping that we can start making some happy memories.
Earlier this week she broke down in tears about how much she hates Christmas because it reminds her that her family was so dysfunctional and she's never had any friends to spend it with make it fun.

With all her health problems this Fall, it's made this a very difficult holiday season, so I'm definitely looking forward to getting away.