So...christmas is coming as I'm sure you are well aware and everyone is running around like headless chickens. Not me, not this year as I have discovered the beauty of internet shopping. Well actually I discovered that a long time ago but for some reason hadn't used it for christmas shopping. Probably because of the P&P knocks the price up a bit. I love christmas but it's a weird sort of torture. I mean there are no surprises anymore. We 'put in our order' to use my mother's phrase, so that you end up with that digital camera instead of a pair of slippers (in other words you get exactly what you want). When did this start happening? I look at my 'to buy' christmas list and it's full of things the recipients already know about. Is this a backlash from too many 'surprises' when you were given the wrong barbie and had to force those awful words of 'oh that's lovely' when secretly your heart sinks along with the rest of the christmas celebrations? I'd just like to clarify I was lucky enough to never be that child (or adult) but I have heard countless stories of others who know that scenario all too well.
So we enter the, what I like to call 'elbow olympics' when you bravely venture out christmas shopping, which is supposed to be a time when you reflect and think about those who you are buying for with great love and thought and with 'goodwill to all' and yet it turns into elbow jabbing, shuffling, getting overheated, wanting to punch people in the back of the head for just suddenly stopping right in front of you or for walking too slowly, and of course panic buying (especially when you realise that what you were looking for has already been snatched from the crowd of shopper vultures). Then you get home, and what seemed like a good idea/buy at the time turns into 'what the hell was I thinking!?'.
To then make matters worse, (luckily I have never had the pleasure of having to participate in this next little game I like to call 'trolley wars') it's the food shopping.....now since when did supermarkets close for an entire 3 months? The answer is they don't and yet I am amazed when I see these women with super-sized trolleys overloading with 30 pints of milk and 10 loaves of bread....why? Thus the supermarket is empty, you're lucky if you can get 2 brussel sprouts and it is a race against the clock to scramble for the last Turkey (if I remember rightly I think my aunty actually almost ended up in a fight over a turkey, but then again she is the only person I know who leaves it until christmas morning!) .
Christmas day comes and excitement sets in (yes..even now at the age of 23) and the presents come out along with the champagne breakfast (why isn't this acceptable for breakfast the rest of the year!?) and after the little mis-hap of the turkey not fitting in the oven, (again, this actually happened in our house a few christmases ago...that was a laugh!) lunch time rolls around, were squashed in to fit round the table, all at different heights (see peter kay and the extra christmas chairs sketch) followed by not being able to move afterwards due to sheer pigery. Then we all crash on the sofa, half asleep and drunk with a classic christmas film on in the background and this...is my favourite part of the day. Why? Because I am content. I have eaten, I am drunk, I have some wonderful gifts, I know (I think) that everyone is pleased with their gifts from me, it's the one day of the year I can eat chocolate guilt free, a funny film is on and I'm warm and half-asleep. What more could you want! Most importantly, I love looking around the room at the people I am sat with and realise this is why we torture ourselves for the months leading up to christmas. I remember that I love these people, that I am privileged to have such wonderful family members, that I couldn't ask for better company and that it has been a lovely day . This is why I love christmas.
