Thinking About: Christmas

I am, to be honest, rather ambivalent about Christmas. For one thing it obviously has no religious significance to me. I don’t ‘celebrate’ Christmas in that or any other sense. I am also, again being honest, not a hugely social person so haven’t made plans to visit family and friends over the festive period. My regular Christmas visits to my family ‘up North’ are somewhat more obligatory than looked forward too but we’ve never been a particularly close family even at the best of times. As my readers will know my usual festive trips home have been replaced by a more sedate affair earlier in the year to avoid the worst of the weather so things have become even less Christmas-like than before.

Over the past few years our group of friends have eased off the present buying that has become such a big part of the ‘reason for the season’. It was getting a little silly at times even with financial limits imposed for sanity and overdraft sake. I do treat myself to a few little things but nothing that I bother to wrap and then unwrap on Christmas morning. Christmas is, primarily at least, for children and for lovers. As I have, and am unlikely to have, neither that takes away another of the great pillars of Christmas. Fortunately I am not one of the people I see or hear on a regular basis agonising about what certain people in their lives want (and expect) for Christmas, if they can get hold of one in time and just how they are going to afford to pay for it. It is kind of a pity though because, generally speaking, I give good gifts – mostly because I listen to what people say around me and if I hear someone I like/love exclaim “Oh, that’s nice” I circle round and buy it for later. Of course they’ve normally forgotten about their exclamation of delight months later and re impressed that I know them so well.

There are a few things that I do like about Christmas however. There’s a lot more snack around and people tend to bring in large tubs of chocolate to work for their colleagues. I’m certainly never short of treats this time of year! I also like crisp winter days where we get clear blue skies, maybe a slight breeze and that feeling it’s going to get really cold – but not just yet. Then, of course, there’s snow. I like snow. I love to see the after effects of a snowfall and I love to walk in new virgin snow. I love the feel of it, the look of it, and the sound of it crunching under your boots. Dressed for the conditions, remembering that there’s no such thing as bad weather just inappropriate clothing, being out in snow is, in my opinion at least, wonderful. I also, despite my previous comment about being basically anti-social, enjoy the many Christmas parties and meals that are arranged throughout the festive few weeks. Getting together with work friends, outside of a working environment, is often fun and sometimes surprising. With good company, reasonably good food and some alcohol inside them people can open up to an extent that they wouldn’t normally in a more formal setting. Then, of course there’s always the rare opportunity presented by mistletoe and the unguarded ‘what the hell, it’s Christmas’ moment……

But being the person I am, the thing I look forward to most over Christmas is the opportunity to spend time on my own. It’s not often I get the chance to shut my front door and not step outside or see another person for a week or maybe even two (or more). I find the whole thing very relaxing. I don’t have to make conversation, listen to other people, solve problems or basically do anything over and above what I want to do – or not to do. I can just be me 24/7 for days on end. Bliss. I’m looking forward to it. It’s been a long year and I deserve a long break. Just 3 more days at work and then 19 days off. Now I just have to ensure that I have enough in the house to keep me going that long.