Saturday 22 December 2012

The Pros And Cons Of Christmas


Is it just me or are years flying by way too fast?


It seems like only yesterday when I was recovering from Christmas 2011 and, hey presto, here it is again. As a self-confessed grumpy old git, you may imagine that I adopt the role of Ebenezer Scrooge at this time of year and start moaning about humbugs.

That’s not true. Well – sometimes it is to be fair.

I have a love-hate relationship with Christmas; there are elements that I love and embrace, and there are elements that I despise. I’m sure that regular readers will have a guess at which bits of the festive season drive me crazy, given the things I’ve ranted about before on this cyber soapbox.

I thought it would be a nice idea to share with you what I hate and what I love about this time of year.

Without further ado, here are the pros and cons of Christmas.

Cons



(1) Choosing presents – I find it really difficult to decide what to buy everybody. I find my thoughts drifting to what I want, which means that I have to resist buying a heavy metal album for Mrs PM for example. Mrs PM says that by now, after almost 15 years together, I should easily be able to select a suitable gift. And I can – after I have beaten myself up over it for several months. Come January, I will be thinking of what I can buy her for Christmas 2013 – yes it takes that long. And she is only one of the people I have to consider.

(2) Christmas shopping – I hate shopping at the best of times and it this time of year, this abhorrent pastime mutates into a monstrous experience – even if you want to buy something unrelated to the festive period. In Manchester we have a huge shopping mall called the Trafford Centre and in December it is like entering Hell itself. The enormous car parks are so full that arriving and leaving take hours to achieve, having blocked up the motorways and main roads around for hours. Inside the Trafford Centre all shops are absolutely crammed with hapless shoppers, none of whom want to be there. You have to queue for hours to actually buy what you want and queue for more hours to leave the bloody place. And supermarkets are the same. There is so much food to buy that the weekly shop becomes a nightmare. People buy so much food you would think that they have predicted World War 3 and are planning for four years in a bunker to avoid nuclear fallout.

(3) Christmas starts earlier and earlier every year. My birthday is 8th October and I use that as a marker to see whether Christmas adverts have started or not. In the past, the first commercials appeared in late October. More recently the adverts have started much earlier; it was in September this year meaning that we have to spend a quarter of the year suffering bloody Christmas commercials – three bloody months of it.

(4) The Queen’s Christmas Message. I am ambivalent when it comes to Liz. I neither hate her nor love her. To me she is just another celebrity who happens to get a lot of media attention. Why should I be even remotely interested in anything she has got to say? I haven’t. The only thing I have in common with Liz and her family is that we live in England. Apart from that I care not one jot about her thoughts, her wisdom or her opinions. Why this is prime time TV on Christmas Day is beyond me.

(5) Travelling. Since I moved to Manchester in 1984, I have had to spend the Christmas period driving around the Midlands, Yorkshire and the North West of England visiting people who demand my presence. Back in 1984 I thought to myself, one day you will all come to me. It is now 2012 and there is absolutely no chance of that happening, This year I have to drive for three hours on Christmas Day, an hour and a half on Boxing Day and three hours the day after that. I’m exhausted just thinking about it.

(6) Bad presents. I wish people would just say – “Here’s £20 – go and buy something you like.” Instead I get slippers, hankies and after shave – repeatedly.

Enough of that “Bah! Humbug!” nonsense. Here are the pros:

Pros

(1) Time off work. I love being off work and at Christmas I usually manage a week or two off work. I love to wake up with the knowledge that I can stay in bed, relax, go for a walk and take it easy for the duration of the Christmas Holiday period.

(2) Christmas Parties and socialising. Christmas parties can be an amazing experience, with either friends, family or work colleagues and usually I end up attending quite a few events. Generally the pubs and restaurants are full of joy and cheer anyway but whether you go to the pub with your mates or end up at a Christmas Party, fun is freely available to make even the most boring Scrooge smile occasionally – even me:


(3) Kids – Kids love Christmas and there is nothing better than seeing the faces of children when they see Father Christmas and open their presents on the big day. Sadly my two are too old now (19 and 16) and no longer have that innocent enthusiasm.

(4) Good presents. Occasionally I have genuinely surprised when receiving gifts. As I said above, these days I love it when people give me gift vouchers or cash so that I have an excuse to hit the sales or go online and splash out on something wonderful for myself.

(5) Christmas Markets. In recent years there has been a trend in Britain where major cities welcome European style markets selling all sorts of Christmas goodies. The annual Christmas Market in Manchester is usually packed but mulled wine is abundant and you can relax in a bar supping your mulled wine or the alcoholic beverage of your choice while watching people enjoying the experience. A great way to spend a few hours in the run up to Christmas.

(6) Food. I love Christmas fare, particularly mince pies. Mrs PM and I eat them by the bucket load and any diets we are considering are shelved for a week or two. Christmas is the time of year when you basically tell your diet to “Bugger off”. I genuinely do not feel bad about gaining a few pounds. Such things can be dealt with in January. This year on Christmas Day I will end up looking like a roly poly old man as I settle down in front of the TV to watch the Dr Who Christmas special. And I won’t care at all.

Well that’s it for now.

I would like to wish everybody a Merry Christmas whether you are a regular reader or a poor unfortunate who has stumbled across this post by accident.

May Father Christmas bring you all the gifts that you want – but please – no more socks and hankies. I have so many now that I could open a shop.

12 comments:

Elephant's Child said...

Merry Christmas to you and yours. I share lots of your pros and your cons, but will admit that Boxing Day is my favourite bit of the holiday. There are leftovers. I can point anyone who wants feeding at the fridge and suggest they forage for themselves. The fuss and bother is over. I will have a new book to read. In peace.

River said...

I agree with you about the Queen's message. I never, ever listen to it.
What I like about Christmas downunder is it's cherry season! yum! And luscious ham, barbecued prawns, mince pies that I make myself.
Have just this past half hour been in contact with my kids and this years Christmas lunch is going to be fish'n'chips on a beach.

Pandora Behr said...

You're not imagining it. Things are flying.

Good post - sounds like you have the same love/hate relationship to Christmas that I have.

I hate the hot weather that comes with Christmas (38 here today)

Would rather be in England any day at this time.

Merry Xmas to you and yours.

Pandx

Plastic Mancunian said...

Hi EC,

Merry Xmas to and your family - not forgetting the cats.

:-)

Boxing Day - would be good - if I didn't have to travel...

:-)

Cheers

PM

Plastic Mancunian said...

Hi River,

Fish'n'chips on the beach?

How lucky. Want to swap?

:-)

Cheers

PM

Plastic Mancunian said...

Hi Pand,

38 degrees, eh? Today was actually quite mild - 10 degrees. I expect it to get much colder though.

As I said to River - we can swap if you like.

:0)

Cheers

PM

drb said...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Mr PM!
I am a relatively new comer to Christmas. My family and I are buddhist, so we didn't celebrate X'mas.
Don't understand the Gift giving custom, especially what you received on X'mas could be 50% cheaper on Boxing day sale. Luckily, Rob's family practise Kris Kringle and so we need only to worry for 1 pressie.

Hope you get lots of goodies

Plastic Mancunian said...

Hi drb,

Merry Xmas to you and Rob. I hope I get lots of goodies to.

:-)

Cheers

PM

DelGal said...

Dearest PM -

Happy holidays! I think I've got a love hate relationship too. I
majorly despise shopping during Christmas and ever since I was in a car accident a few days before Christmas with my elderly Aunt a few years ago, I decided to do more shopping online. This year I didn't set foot into any store, and I try my best to shop in places that have free shipping and the ability to return items to a local store if needed. But I also shop throughout the year for people's presents when I'm traveling, so I get neat gifts I may not see in our local stores, and I'm not under any pressure.

Plastic Mancunian said...

Hi Lady from Delaware,

Internet shopping is the way to go.

:0)

Hope you had a great Xmas.

:0)

Cheers

PM

MedicatedMoo said...

You're spot on about the Christmas markets in Europe. It makes sense here, as all the traditional Christmas guff originated here.

As for the Queen's message? Like you, I couldn't care less about her either way, but I'm sure as hell not going to listen to that nasally voice voluntarily!

Plastic Mancunian said...

Bonjour Kath,

I actually walked out the room once and received an extremely bad reaction from my ex's Aunt.

Only once though - because I hauled out my soapbox. You can probably guess the rest.

:-)

Cheers

PM