Normally, I refuse to give Christmas any thought before the start of December, on principle. However, my pipe band are playing on both of the first two Saturdays in December this year, and I'm very sure I won't be able to get absolutely everything on-line, which will necessitate at least one trip to a bigger town than Yeovil to shop. All of which means I'm having to consider Christmas early this year.
As this is also my first Christmas away from the family home, I'm also having to consider just what sort of Christmas I'm going to have.
Bluntly, I think the madness that has afflicted society regarding Christmas in recent years is a terrible thing, and something I'm not going to indulge in. I refuse to spend hours decorating the flat, only to not have anyone around to see my efforts. I refuse to spend hours meticulously building a list of people to send cards to, to make sure I don't offend anyone. And I won't be spending thousands of pounds that I don't have buying presents that will be opened, and then forgotten. Oh, and I won't insist on getting really drunk at the office party, with a view to doing something that will embarrass me the next day.
In short, I'm doing a no-stress Christmas. I'll put up precisely two decorations: one in the flat and one at work. I'll buy a bunch of presents for a select few people. And then I'll not worry about another thing.
Note that this isn't a case of me saying "Humbug" to the notion of Christmas. As a Christian, I do consider the birth of Jesus as rather important (oh, and let's not have the "it's really a Pagan holiday" argument - it might have been once, but it's been Christian as long as you've been alive). However, I rather suspect that Jesus wouldn't recognise too many of the trappings that we've put around this festival.
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