Hello! It feels so good to have my hands on my laptop keyboard again. It's been a while. I've been trapped in the pinball stage of Life, where being able to deal with whatever is happening directly in front of me counts as a huge win but not for one moment have I been in control of where I'm going or what I'm doing. It's okay, I've got to the point where I'm old enough and I've been here enough times that I understand these times will come but then they will go. And when they've gone, here I am, at my beloved keyboard, and writing feels to me the way an obsessive pianist feels when they're lost in their music, and just for this moment, all is right in my world.
I can't deliver a typical blog. People expect blogs to have a point, to teach some lesson or demonstrate a truth, but I just love to write and then to let you read. With that clause in mind, I'll tell you a bit about how my family has been celebrating the winter holidays.
Matthew and I both grew up celebrating Christmas in a very secular way, with Father Christmas, or Santa Claus, trees and lights. When Alex was born in 2006 we naturally carried on, so he too grew up celebrating Christmas. We've never been a part of religion but we have each carried an instinctual belief in something incredible and greater than our comprehension. When I found my Jewish paternal birth family in 2018 we began learning about Judaism and we took to it like fish to water, and eventually formally converted.
When our first post-Jewish identity Christmas was approaching it only took a minute of reflection to realise that we wanted to carry on our Xmas family traditions, which didn't conflict with us being Jews at all. Adding Hanukkah on to our winter routine makes my winter busier, but the two holidays are totally different to each other and mean entirely different things to us.
For Hanukkah we've started a new to us tradition, where we each get to choose one charity to donate £18.00 to. 18 is a special, lucky, fortuitous number in Judaism and while it isn't a huge amount, it's what our family can afford, and it's £18.00 more than nothing. We all enjoyed going "charity shopping" and choosing who our £18.00 will go to. On the last night of Hanukkah we shared our choices with each other, and that sparked a really wonderful family conversation.
Alex chose Care International UK. They work all over the world wherever needed in aid of crisis response, gender equality, climate crisis and much more. Matthew chose Equality Trust UK who are working hard to dismantle the inequalities of income, wealth and power that are so deeply entrenched within the U.K. Looking at their website reminds me of a joke I heard recently - "A university graduate asks their professor, 'What's the best way for me to get a foothold in my field in the 2026 job market?' Their teacher replies, 'Have an ancestor who was on the winning side of the battle of Hastings, 1066.'" This is why I haven't got time for the royal family. I chose to give my £18.00 to Woodgreen Pets Charity. They do the most incredible work with animals and I've just lived through my first full year with Sylvie. I've learned first hand what a difference a dog can make. Sylvie is a family dog but she's also my service dog for CPTSD and having her has improved my quality of life enormously. So I wanted to give back to the animal world this year. Already we're looking forward to doing this again next year in honour of the miracle of Hanukkah.
Now it's New Year's Day, January 1, 2026. I've written my traditional "I hate fireworks" Facebook post, and now I'm looking forward to what's coming next. I'm going to turn 47 in ten days, I'm doing my first Facebook Livestream on the 16th, and I need to finish my book asap. There are 40 pages left to edit and with the holiday cluster behind me it's my top priority. I will not keep you waiting long, that I promise.
And so here we are, at end of my word-song, all played out on the keyboard and ready to get up for a stretch. I'll close this blog as I always do, by thanking you for reading and hoping that life is being kind to you, wherever you are. I hope that 2026 will be gentle on everyone but the Oppressors, and for them I wish for every discomfort and pray for an end of their power.
Those are my plans and hopes for 2026.
Resting in my power and wishing you all the best,
Erin
