What a time of year. By now, at 11pm on Christmas Day, you have survived at least 6 weeks of present propaganda, a minimum of 3 cheesy department store adverts (usually starring either a. Soldiers, b. anthropomorphised cartoon animals or c. children), and the horribly adult feeling of knowing you should be ‘LOOKING FORWARD TO CHRISTMAS’ but feeling like, you know, normal.
So well done, I suppose, and I hope you didn’t spend too much money. This year the true fake, grotesque nature of the season has become much more apparent to me. It seems so difficult to be excited by billboards and TV adverts saying ‘BUY THIS!’, ‘POINTLESS NOVELTY GIFT FOR DAD’ or ‘IF YOU DON’T BUY OUR ORGANIC, HOME REARED, ARTISAN, QUAIL STUFFED TURKEY, THEN YOU ARE A TERRIBLE HUMAN AND YOUR FAMILY WILL HATE YOU.’….Okay, maybe I’m paraphrasing a little.
Either way, this is a season more than ever when retailers are desperate for their slice of the Christmas Pie (I know this- having worked extensively in retail, this is the period that compensates for all those disappointing weeks throughout the year.) I for one find this hugely irritating, and find myself frowning at ads on the tube throughout the winter months.
But, on leaving the city and returning to the charming sticks from which I come, all that fades away, I am surrounded by family, reminded to be humble, and to give, and to love, and Christmas becomes real again.
So, Dear Readers, From A Slightly Sozzled Dream.Think.Speak, Merry Christmas, and to all a good night. May you enjoy this time with those you care about, and celebrate the fact that it’s going to be at least 10 months before the BBC’s lack-luster collection of ageing stars get to host another Christmas Special.
Dream.Think.Speak 