I Love Christmas
I am quite the Grinch at Christmas.
Or at least that’s what my kids call me.
Whilst the rest of the family are getting into the true Christmas mood, singing along to Dean Martin and Bing Crosby, hanging up baubles and decorating the Christmas tree, I go out shopping or to fill up the car with fuel……or anywhere in fact…..it doesn’t matter as long as I can avoid it.
Far be it from me to suggest that Christmas is commercialised crap nowadays, and God forbid I should actually tell the kids that modern Santa in his jolly red suit was invented by the Coca Cola company (sorry to burst your bubble folks!) And as for the house being taken over by gaudy tinsel, tons of screaming kids with very loud toy guns (they have their friends round Christmas week) and piles of relatives, well, I’m about as far from Who-Ville as you can get. I’m right up there on the Grinch’s Mount Crumpet, hissing about Christmas and gluing antlers onto the dog.
Richard loves Christmas, and has very happy memories. It was, after all, the only time of year his parents didn’t argue.
And Christmas always brings up those memories and traditions. Whether or not you love Christmas depends largely on what your Christmasses were like when you were a kid. Let’s face it folks….we become our parents at some point.
My parents didn’t like Christmas ….mostly they went to Spain, so I spent way too many Christmas Days in hotels, wishing I was back in the UK and subscribing to the “True Christmas Experience”. Mind you it was the only time of year that my Dad would play Chess with me, so there were some redeeming features.
But when we were at home for Christmas, EVERY Christmas Day, without fail, the central ceiling light in the living room would fall on my head on Christmas Day. Hard to believe but it’s true. In desperation, my poor parents tried to chain the light to the ceiling one year, but the chain snapped and yep, the light fell on my head again. Spooky eh ? Mind you the house was an old one and was haunted. So my parents took to leaving the country on Christmas Eve.
No wonder I am the Grinch.
But this year it’s gonna be different !!!
I am resolved to enjoy Christmas and discover what it is all about.
I have watched every Christmas cooking programme there is and I am very confident that I can attempt a proper turkey this year, without roasting it upside-down and poisoning my mother-in-law, which is what happened last year.
I have sorted out all the cards and annual letters to obscure relatives very early this year (a totally hateful job…WHY is it that this job falls to women to do?) and I have wrapped and hidden the presents in our secret present hidey- hole (under lock and key) and we are going to put the decorations up this weekend. I will make a SUPREME effort and not run away whilst this is being done. At the very least I think I can manage to hide in the kitchen and bake something Christmassy (involving LOTS of sherry of which, naturally, I must sample a wee dram just to make sure it’s good quality stuff).
And when the relatives come for dinner, it WILL all go perfectly (no arsenic this year then) and I will NOT be remotely stressed. In fact I am going to spend the entire Christmas period in an enlightened Christmas-Zen state of consciousness.
My kids (and the new enlightened Grinch at the end of my daughters book) tell me that Christmas is a feeling inside… Not sure if I’m gonna make it. The kids aren't sure either.
Here is an image of Claire Louisa looking Christmassy….. just to get you in the festive mood
Or at least that’s what my kids call me.
Whilst the rest of the family are getting into the true Christmas mood, singing along to Dean Martin and Bing Crosby, hanging up baubles and decorating the Christmas tree, I go out shopping or to fill up the car with fuel……or anywhere in fact…..it doesn’t matter as long as I can avoid it.
Far be it from me to suggest that Christmas is commercialised crap nowadays, and God forbid I should actually tell the kids that modern Santa in his jolly red suit was invented by the Coca Cola company (sorry to burst your bubble folks!) And as for the house being taken over by gaudy tinsel, tons of screaming kids with very loud toy guns (they have their friends round Christmas week) and piles of relatives, well, I’m about as far from Who-Ville as you can get. I’m right up there on the Grinch’s Mount Crumpet, hissing about Christmas and gluing antlers onto the dog.
Richard loves Christmas, and has very happy memories. It was, after all, the only time of year his parents didn’t argue.
And Christmas always brings up those memories and traditions. Whether or not you love Christmas depends largely on what your Christmasses were like when you were a kid. Let’s face it folks….we become our parents at some point.
My parents didn’t like Christmas ….mostly they went to Spain, so I spent way too many Christmas Days in hotels, wishing I was back in the UK and subscribing to the “True Christmas Experience”. Mind you it was the only time of year that my Dad would play Chess with me, so there were some redeeming features.
But when we were at home for Christmas, EVERY Christmas Day, without fail, the central ceiling light in the living room would fall on my head on Christmas Day. Hard to believe but it’s true. In desperation, my poor parents tried to chain the light to the ceiling one year, but the chain snapped and yep, the light fell on my head again. Spooky eh ? Mind you the house was an old one and was haunted. So my parents took to leaving the country on Christmas Eve.
No wonder I am the Grinch.
But this year it’s gonna be different !!!
I am resolved to enjoy Christmas and discover what it is all about.
I have watched every Christmas cooking programme there is and I am very confident that I can attempt a proper turkey this year, without roasting it upside-down and poisoning my mother-in-law, which is what happened last year.
I have sorted out all the cards and annual letters to obscure relatives very early this year (a totally hateful job…WHY is it that this job falls to women to do?) and I have wrapped and hidden the presents in our secret present hidey- hole (under lock and key) and we are going to put the decorations up this weekend. I will make a SUPREME effort and not run away whilst this is being done. At the very least I think I can manage to hide in the kitchen and bake something Christmassy (involving LOTS of sherry of which, naturally, I must sample a wee dram just to make sure it’s good quality stuff).
And when the relatives come for dinner, it WILL all go perfectly (no arsenic this year then) and I will NOT be remotely stressed. In fact I am going to spend the entire Christmas period in an enlightened Christmas-Zen state of consciousness.
My kids (and the new enlightened Grinch at the end of my daughters book) tell me that Christmas is a feeling inside… Not sure if I’m gonna make it. The kids aren't sure either.
Here is an image of Claire Louisa looking Christmassy….. just to get you in the festive mood
posted by Lin at 11:25 AM
1 Comments:
I've recently heard that complaints about the comercialisation of Christmas date back at least as far as the 1920s. Just think, that's almost long enough to constitute a bona fide tradition.
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