Monday 21 December 2020

 A Perfect Christmas - a not too serious look at the hype around the holiday season.

Browsing various websites and the glossy magazines that come with the Sunday newspapers, I came across several bits of advice for having "the perfect Christmas" and even for having "the perfect covid Christmas".

I'm afraid that my initial and not very elegant reaction was : give me a break! Who needs advice on having a perfect Christmas? What is a perfect Christmas, anyway? Women - and it's usually women - work so hard to present that crispy, golden turkey and those mouth-watering veggies, crispy roast potatoes (yum, yum) and get the right wines to accompany them and everyone turns and smiles gratefully at them as the family is seated around the perfect Christmas dining table. Angelic children put up "santa stop here" signs and go into rhapsodies over their presents. Men buy perfume for their nearest and dearest because they've seen that advertisement on television where this glamorous figure rides bareback around town. Really?

And what is the perfect "covid Christmas?" I suppose if you look on the bright side, with all the restrictions in place, Aunt Nellie won't be able to come and criticize your decorations and stare blankly at those rather gorgeous gloves you got her.

All that cheery advice - it's enough to make you want to eat your Christmas stocking.

However, help is at hand. If you completely disregard all the cozy suggestions of what food, what presents, what wine, how to do it all, and simply relax - cook a beefburger with a generous portion of French fries and tinned beans, give everyone cash instead of toiling around the shops in your mask, and just have fun. Be glad to share this special time with your loved ones and do FaceTime or Skype with those who can't make it. But above all, despite the situation we are in, let's be happy and merry. Sing those old traditional Christmas songs together, play cards or any board game that unites everybody. And let us be thankful for what we have right now.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

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