Very sad but very busy too. I did lunch for 7 at my place (carved the Ham and Turkey myself for the first time, and made all the food - H used to be the cook in our household - so a big positive for me there) and then I had MIL and FIL over after dinner.
H rang at 8pm and spoke to the kids for 1 minute each. Wanted to know the detail of what gifts they received - e.g., when D16 said 'food', he asked what sort.
He dropped by on Xmas eve to deliver the kids' gifts but didn't stay long. D16 was still at work, so she didn't see her father at all for Xmas.
Said he'd come to see the kids on Boxing Day to take them to visit his parents, but as it turned out, he didn't show.
D16 and I went to the sales on Boxing Day and MIL asked us up to her place for a BBQ dinner. We stayed until late, with BIL and SIL in attendance. All the immediate family, in fact, except H.
BIL was being really nice and chatty to me and gave me a big heartfelt hug when he left. No word about H has been mentioned between us though.
Always makes cry when people show sympathy, but otherwise i had a good couple of days.
H finally showed up after an inordinate amount of to-ing and fro-ing on 27th to take the kids to the dog park (one of 2 locations he takes them when he comes to get them - the other is to his mothers' house).
I think Xmas has been hard for him and he has been retreating. No chink in his armour shown to me though. But enough mind-reading...
We still have the kids' present to give him, so wondering if he will come in on his return to get it.
All in all, I am coping much better in some ways with his absence than i would have thought possible over Xmas.
But it still catches me out as just so ODD that this is actually happening to us.
Don't know when/if I'll ever get over that feeling.
Thanks to everyone here - your posts and replies to me have helped me get through a time of the year that i thought would be awful.
As it turns out, i think I have finally detached enough to cope with just about anything. Kids took it harder than me - they were upset about the gifts he got them and so sad that he didn't show up to see them. S14 kept saying "It doesn't feel like Xmas". But we're through it and fine now.
