It's that time of year again...

when everyone sends out those Christmas cards, and, more annoying, those Christmas letters. We never do them (we made a small exception in sending wedding invitation/announcements when we were planning the wedding) and my usual rule is write a couple of lines by hand (shock horror) inside the card of people I haven't seen for a while.

So, when the news hasn't been great, what to do? I am afraid I did tell about four or five unfortunate friends about the miscarriage (and the two elderly relatives that died, and the fact that Mr Spouse nearly lost his job - told you the news hadn't been great). A few other people got a very cheery "Well, it's not been a great year, here's hoping 2006 is better!". Nothing like a bit of Christmas cheer, is there?

So this is by way of an apology to people who get inappropriate news in their Christmas cards... and thanks to my friend J, who I actually knew had had a miscarriage herself but at the time I didn't feel up to sharing the lovely news with absolutely everyone - and who rang me last night as soon as she got my card, and who I managed also to tell about our unsuccessful attempts to get pregnant again. I was welling up a bit on the phone, though.

It's good to talk...