OK, I admit it, I’m getting a little stressed about Christmas. After a good start, the shopping has all fallen in a heap over the last few weeks. I’ve still got numerous things to buy, both known and unknown. The way it’s looking, this Christmas it won’t quite be gift vouchers at twenty paces, but it might come close.
A bunch of stuff ordered online for the kids hasn’t arrived yet, and if it’s not there at the post office when I drop past this afternoon, the spot underneath the tree might look a bit barren on Sunday night. I might never order anything online to a deadline again.
Meanwhile out there in Retail Land the shops are steadily getting more, as my sister puts it, feral.
Surely the season of joy and goodwill isn’t meant to be like this?
It’s funny, ‘cos with many of us in the family now having mortgages, there was a plan (formulated straight after last Christmas) for adults not to exchange presents. Somehow that’s fallen by the wayside.
Maybe as a compromise we should all convert to Orthodox Christianity and have Christmas on January 7th, so at least we can get all the presents at the post-Christmas sales.
Update 4pm. All the parcels arrived. My faith in online shopping is restored. The children won’t go hungry this Christmas.
2 replies on “Christmas stressants”
Speaking from experience, having Christmas on the 7th of Jan ROCKS!!! You can make the most of the post-Christmas (western Christmas, that is) sales and if you’re married to someone whose family celebrates on the 25th of Dec, you aren’t forced to race between functions or alternate years with your family and their family. This has to be one of the greatest benefits of being in a mixed marriage :)
I’m quite happy celebrating the winter solstice in winter (heretical idea that it is) and working through summer solstice. It seems to make more sense that way. And everything is cheaper and easier. Plus I get substantial bonuses for working while the mammonites are celebrating their god in the shops.
I’m also fortunate that my birthday is a public holiday, so I can always have a day off then.