Whilst it is indeed true that Christmas comes but once a year, it seems to come around with depressing speed as time goes by. No, this isn't a diatribe about how time seems to speed up as you get older, but it's nearly as popular a theme about this time of year. Today I went into town to do some holiday shopping (I shall be jetting off to the Orient in a few days time for a much needed break) and I discovered that Bath city council have decided to put up the Christmas decorations already. It's still the middle of October and we have the lights, tinsel and baubles out already.
Why? Why the bloody hell do we need this cack up when we're still two full weeks from Guy Fawkes' night? And even then it'll be another 7 or 8 weeks until Christmas itself. Granted this isn't as bad as the supermarkets and department stores who start decking the halls with boughs of holly (or at least putting wrapping paper, cards, tinsel and crackers on the shelves along with other assorted seasonal tat) sometime in September, but still - at least lets have the fireworks before we start breaking out the plastics Santa’s.
I used to love Christmas - what kid doesn't? The excitement building up to it, the expectation of presents (fairly modest ones when I was a lad as there were three of us kids and my Dad was just a middle ranking civil servant so we weren't exactly flush), the sights and smells you only got once a year (Liquorice Allsorts, Quality Street and peanuts always stuck out for me), the school Christmas play and so on. I loved it all. But as you get older you are more aware of the rank commercialism that goes along with it and that rather tarnishes the whole experience.
Don't get me wrong: I am an atheist and couldn't give a monkeys bollock about all the religious shite surrounding the whole thing (lets face it - most of the accompaniments are in fact of Pagan origin, not Christian, and I'm certainly not averse to the sentiment of peace and goodwill to all men. You don't have to be religious to subscribe to that one), so I don't feel that any kind of message or spiritual significance is being diminished, but it is just such a grotesque example of rampant consumerism now that it's depressing. Kids get hundreds, even thousands, of pounds worth of presents and yet seem ever more ungrateful as well as growing up without any concept of the value of money. OK, so I'm guilty too - I don't have kids but I do like to spoil my nieces and nephews rotten because I love them dearly but at least I know my sisters, whatever their financial position at any given time, will most certainly impart a sense of propriety regarding money to their kids.
When I was at university, Christmas was still a good laugh for a number of reasons. Firstly, my old mate Rich and I would wander round town of a Saturday afternoon browsing the nice looking Christmas goodies in M&S and shaking our heads in wonder at the really weird selection of random gifts that department stores flog. Then there would be lots of parties and my housemates and I would have our own Christmas day before the end of term when I would cook a roast chicken dinner and we'd exchange presents and play board games - all good clean fun (at least until we got completely arseholed on cheap wine and other booze whereupon it would descend into enjoyable anarchy). But once uni was done, it just got less and less enjoyable.
All in all I hate Christmas shopping with a passion because, especially in this town, the streets are rammed with sideshows, merry-go-rounds and slow moving morons who stop in the middle of the street to stare at things meaning you, who are trying to get everything done pronto so you can go home and fume, just get more and more annoyed. As for the day itself, well it depends on where I am and who I'm with. I have traditionally taken a dim view of it in my adult life thanks to the stress induced by my step mother (who, quite frankly, is an odious old bitch who makes everyone’s life a misery. But the last two Christmases have been spent with my sisters and were very enjoyable (especially when my niece and nephew were involved - there's something to be said for experiencing Christmas vicariously through good kids and their infectious excitement). This year, I don't know what I'm doing but I'm probably staying at home and just relaxing but until December at least, I won't even be giving the event itself any more though than that because it's too damn early!
Why? Why the bloody hell do we need this cack up when we're still two full weeks from Guy Fawkes' night? And even then it'll be another 7 or 8 weeks until Christmas itself. Granted this isn't as bad as the supermarkets and department stores who start decking the halls with boughs of holly (or at least putting wrapping paper, cards, tinsel and crackers on the shelves along with other assorted seasonal tat) sometime in September, but still - at least lets have the fireworks before we start breaking out the plastics Santa’s.
I used to love Christmas - what kid doesn't? The excitement building up to it, the expectation of presents (fairly modest ones when I was a lad as there were three of us kids and my Dad was just a middle ranking civil servant so we weren't exactly flush), the sights and smells you only got once a year (Liquorice Allsorts, Quality Street and peanuts always stuck out for me), the school Christmas play and so on. I loved it all. But as you get older you are more aware of the rank commercialism that goes along with it and that rather tarnishes the whole experience.
Don't get me wrong: I am an atheist and couldn't give a monkeys bollock about all the religious shite surrounding the whole thing (lets face it - most of the accompaniments are in fact of Pagan origin, not Christian, and I'm certainly not averse to the sentiment of peace and goodwill to all men. You don't have to be religious to subscribe to that one), so I don't feel that any kind of message or spiritual significance is being diminished, but it is just such a grotesque example of rampant consumerism now that it's depressing. Kids get hundreds, even thousands, of pounds worth of presents and yet seem ever more ungrateful as well as growing up without any concept of the value of money. OK, so I'm guilty too - I don't have kids but I do like to spoil my nieces and nephews rotten because I love them dearly but at least I know my sisters, whatever their financial position at any given time, will most certainly impart a sense of propriety regarding money to their kids.
When I was at university, Christmas was still a good laugh for a number of reasons. Firstly, my old mate Rich and I would wander round town of a Saturday afternoon browsing the nice looking Christmas goodies in M&S and shaking our heads in wonder at the really weird selection of random gifts that department stores flog. Then there would be lots of parties and my housemates and I would have our own Christmas day before the end of term when I would cook a roast chicken dinner and we'd exchange presents and play board games - all good clean fun (at least until we got completely arseholed on cheap wine and other booze whereupon it would descend into enjoyable anarchy). But once uni was done, it just got less and less enjoyable.
All in all I hate Christmas shopping with a passion because, especially in this town, the streets are rammed with sideshows, merry-go-rounds and slow moving morons who stop in the middle of the street to stare at things meaning you, who are trying to get everything done pronto so you can go home and fume, just get more and more annoyed. As for the day itself, well it depends on where I am and who I'm with. I have traditionally taken a dim view of it in my adult life thanks to the stress induced by my step mother (who, quite frankly, is an odious old bitch who makes everyone’s life a misery. But the last two Christmases have been spent with my sisters and were very enjoyable (especially when my niece and nephew were involved - there's something to be said for experiencing Christmas vicariously through good kids and their infectious excitement). This year, I don't know what I'm doing but I'm probably staying at home and just relaxing but until December at least, I won't even be giving the event itself any more though than that because it's too damn early!