Each Christmas lots of families in Helensburgh have a special someone away.

Life as a submariner’s family is pretty unique,   You kiss them goodbye trying to force a smile, when really you’d like to have a damned good cry, not knowing when they will be home…only that it will be sometime in 3-4 months.  Yes 3-4 months of no contact, when your loved one is away there are no emails, no letters and no phone calls.

You might slip a wee note in their bag, for them to come across by chance when they unpack, or you may send them with a little box of goodies…nothing much, as there is little spare space for luxuries.

Christmas is especially difficult, particularly for those with young children.

The extra stresses of having to deal with EVERYTHING on your own, do you stay at home or make the trip back to your family to try and give your children some semblance of a big family Christmas?   Do you put the decorations up early and have a pretend Christmas before they go, or wait and have something extra to look forward to when they come home?  Who looks after the children while you trek the shops for the kiddies’ presents…and you mustn’t forget to buy a couple of extras from Daddy “from under the sea”.  All of this on top of the everyday challenges of living a good chunk of the year as a lone parent.

This year it’s our turn again, our children are a little older and we have had several Christmas’s without our special someone, it’s almost normal for us now.  But I know for some, this will be their first…with some babies celebrating their very 1st Christmas.

I’d like to think that I can help raise a wee smile on some faces in that big tin can on Christmas morning, so on Friday 11th November I’ll be opening my studio up for a special day just for the children whose special person will be away.

There’ll be tea and biccies for the grown ups, while the little ones have their photo taken for their special someone.  Mummies will then be able to choose their favourite photo to be printed onto a Christmas card for Daddy.

I will not be charging anything for this, but will be welcoming donations for the charity Aggies

If you’d like to reserve a slot for your children’s photos, please make a booking below.

Please post the name and age of your child/ren in the comment box.

Please note: This offer is open only to families of the patrolling V boat away for Christmas.

[CPABC_APPOINTMENT_CALENDAR calendar=”1″]