Now nobody can say I didn't at least try to look on the bright side.
Pros
- - The Christmas spirit motivates people to act with more kindness.
- - It encourages giving.
- - Nationwide celebration of Christmas means it the one time of year I'm guaranteed to be with my family, as there are no other commitments.
- - Food is a stress relief. it makes you feel good. An abundance of it it very pleasing.
- - Something to look forward to.
Cons
- - Christmas is also the most stressful time of the year, although it really shouldn't be with all of the pros above. Stress provokes undesirable characteristics such as rudeness and stupidity.
- - Giving is, in my experience, rarely done for the pleasure of giving and seeing the persons happy response. {When I was a kid, I loved just being able to put a smile on somebody's face. I would always get asked, why are YOU giving presents? You're a kid! But I didn't want to just receive presents, (especially when I thought about them spending money on me,) I wanted to give too. But other members of the family (namely sisters) want to know that you are 100% happy with the present, become annoyed if you are not, and additionally hold grudges about bad presents or a lack of presents from previous years and use it to determine what they'll buy that year. Pointless shit, basically. [ * ] }
- - Nationwide celebration encourages national brainwashing. People get the bizarre idea that a good Christmas is an expensive Christmas. Nationwide celebration encourage unnecessary panic and heartache. It is supposed to be a joyous time of year, but the only joyous time seems to be Christmas day, excluding arguments, and it only lasts about 20 hours, depending on when you go to bed. [ ** ]
- - The excess of food, for me, always causes guilt instead of accepting that it's just a part of Christmas. {When I was young, I always ate 'til I was bursting and it such a horrible feeling. I really hated it, I'd always have to lie down, and it was so uncomfortable. Now I have a bit more sense (just a bit). Last year for the first time, I put TINY amount of everything - by the time I was finished and had had a 1/3 glass of water, I was content. Not full, just content. I was really really glad I wised up.}
- - As it looms closer, everything thinks about it and does nothing. Then they panic and talk about being disorganised and cause everybody else needless stress.
[ * ] We no longer give presents as a ritual, because too many people in the family were (is the word bitter?) no longer inclined to do it. At the time I agreed, because there was no point with animosity about, but it's kind of a shame. If we could put those issues aside, me included, it would be sweet. Maybe we made too big a deal about the presents. That's almost always it. Last year, when we didn't do presents, it was really cool. We actually had our morning back.
[ ** ] It makes me ache to think about how much Mama spent on food and drinks alone. I know we are a big family. I know she has better experience than me, I know that she's been doing Christmas for decades and I know she's rather have too much food than not enough to feed the family. It always ends up feeding us up until New Year. It just makes me =/ , especially as I've been trying to encourage them all to eat well. Again, I know it'll be over in a week. Just saying.
Men-yu desu.
Kidding. I just mean the menu. XD
I-Spied a leg o' lamb, chicken, potatoes for roasting, Yorkshire puds, Brussel Sprouts and other veggies, veg for the salad, HUGE packs of Macaroni for Mama's famous Macaroni Cheese (famous is our family, anyway =3 ), chicken skewer things & Tempura prawns to snack on. Then we got chocs, after eights & quality street to be precise, shortbread and selection box of biscuits, and other stuff I'm sure I haven't seen (my little brother is a weasel.) Drinks; snowball, mulled wine & KA, which we have pretty much every year, as well as some ginger beer, shloer, and plain juice. Desserts include apple crumble (I love), eve's pudding (Mama & the sissies love), lemon cheesecake, and surprisingly I think that's it. Would've thought a jam roly poly would been on the list but I guess not. I am also under the impression that other members will be bringing bits and bobs.
Man, this Christmas sh** is exhausting... sorry to be a downer but it's true. And of course I was already exhausted. Not much seems to be working. I must need a huge dose of iron cuz I don't think I have much left. I can barely move. If it wasn't for Mama I wouldn't have gotten out of bed this morning =o
If you're in London and on the road, (and reading this,) be careful. The wind out there is alarmingly powerful.
Take care dudes. Have a good Chrimbo, as my friend used to call it.
Star xx
