DIARY - Have yourself a stressfree little Christmas...
Date: 2006-12-22 13:58:31
Well, here we are again, another year has flown by, Jack frost is playing havoc around the country with his soulmate Misty Weather.
Loads of people are stuck at airports due to fog, loads more are stuck in ten mile queues on the M25 trying to get to either the shopping centre at Bluewater, or the Chav equivalent at Thurrock, to buy their last minute presents or to fight for the last available pack of Marks & Spencers' sprout and stuffing flavoured crisps, just in case they haven't got enough food in already to feed their brood over the Holidays.
Why do people always seem to forget that Christmas comes around each and every year and that it's on the self-same day each and every year, that should make it easy to remember, but it doesn't does it. And, why do they forget that the shops are only closed these days for about ten minutes over the holidays, so that in reality there isn't a need to panic buy anything?
The older I get the more cynical I become and the more I want to return to a simpler time when Christmas meant something more than scouring the shops for the last Wii game, or paying off kids with inordinate sums of cash, because they expect to spend £300 - £400 on something that either Sony or Microsoft tempt them with. Value has no meaning anymore, and neither does Christmas. We are steadfastly losing traditions in this country and that dismays me, Christmas is not a good time for me anyway, but to get into the old spirit of things I'll put on my party hat and pull a cracker as I wish you and everyone else who's visited the site a very happy and wonderful new year.
I hope you have as little stress as possible [Don't worry I think I have the monopoly on stress at present] and that the turkey or whatever you are enjoying tastes better than it looks.
A quick thought for all those loved ones we wish could be here, and the hope that they are happy wherever they may be or whatever they are doing.
Finally, a few words from Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull circa 1968
Once in Royal David's City, stood a lonely cattle shed,
Where a mother held her baby,
You'd do well to remember the things He later said,
When you're stuffing yourselves at the Christmas Parties,
you'll just laugh when I tell you to take a running jump,
You're missing the point I'm sure does not need making
that Christmas spirit is not what you drink.
So how can you laugh when your own mother's hungry,
and how can you smile when the reasons for smiling are wrong?
And if I just messed up your thoughtless pleasures,
remember if you wish, this is just a Christmas song.....
Hey Santa....Pass us that bottle will ya?
Have a truly great Christmas and spare a thought for those that aren't. All the best.
Pat K
© Pat Kent 2006 – All rights reserved. Pat Kent exercises his right to be identified as the author - except Chritmas Song lyrics copyright Ian Anderson.