Ah Christmas, one of the most magical times of the year without a doubt. People walking around in the freezing cold like a pack horse with dozens of bags, stressed about the list of people they have to buy for and somehow still have a smile on their face. There is just something in the air this time of year, I love it. For reasons I won't go into, I will not be so happy myself for this one, I'm going to try and get into the Christmas spirit but I sincerely hope it passes quite quickly.
Something that always makes me feel Christmassy though, is the Coca-Cola Holidays are Coming advert. A sheer classic that everybody loves to see, it's so old that it doesn't fill the whole screen (depending upon your TV), but it just puts a smile on your face. It was on in the breaks between the X-Factor a couple of weeks ago, my friend and I have an ongoing competition dating back the last couple of years to see who catches it first. I won 2008, he won 2009 and we saw it together on Sunday it was all very exciting in a very sad way. Nonetheless it did make me feel that Christmas is coming and aside from my personal love of that advert, that is kind of where it all begins.
I was one of those annoying and ridiculously happy people that just enjoyed every second of the holiday period, even the manic last minute shopping. Recently though (more like the last five years), since I have gained more understanding and perspective of the world I get really frustrated about the commercialisation of Christmas. For me it begins to take more and more of the magic away and it's always the big companies to blame. Now granted I am being a little unfair and biased at the same time because Coca-Cola have made it big from their Christmas campaigns. Did you know that Coca-Cola is mostly responsible for making Santa red? The famous image of Santa comes from the German Weihnachtsmann or Winter Nights Man in English who was the same look and style but wore green. Now Coke weren't the first to make Santa red but for being the biggest company to do so, it changed the way people viewed Santa from around the 1930's. So the power of advertising is a mighty, mighty thing.
I can forgive Coke though, the 30's were a different time, obviously and the world was a different place. Nowadays though adverts are used to con and coerce you into this and that, big companies quash their rivals with offers the smaller companies can't compete with and then the Christmas adverts come out. They always look so pretty with the snow and lots of smiling people asking Santa for this and that with the "ideal for Christmas" speech. Honestly that infuriates me, how can they possibly know what's "ideal" for the people you are planning to buy gifts for? Actually, no, you're 3 for 2 on bath sets are in no way "ideal" for anyone I know. That's my grievance with all things Christmas; all of a sudden everything becomes a perfect present even though it was on the shelves two months ago.
So on top of all the lying advertising campaigns, there is the Boxing Day sale. I loath, detest and despise it… mostly - you can pick up some bargains - but it's just another way shops laugh at you for buying something full price as a present and then selling it off in the sales miles cheaper a few days later because they can make more money out of you. The even funnier thing is that almost everyone is so skint from buying all their gifts before Christmas; they have barely any money to buy anything. Also we are all (most of us) in the same boat, because we know that January is going to be a very long month and payday seems to be an eternity away.
I also don’t like when people insist on telling you how much they've spent on someone. What's the point? Have you never heard the saying "you shouldn't give to receive"? As long as the person I am buying for is happy with their present why should it matter how much it cost and why should it cost at all? I'm not saying you should go out and steal things - maybe if you can get away with it… no I'm just kidding - maybe make something. Take the time and make the effort to give someone something that is completely personal and that not another soul in the world will have. That is the kind of thing that is missing about Christmas, so you can brag to me all you like about spending a bazillion pounds on someone because we will all know just how superficial you are.
That leads me nicely to what I do love about Christmas though. I love the togetherness of it all. I rarely see my family, not because we don't get on or anything; we just aren't very close. I talk to my mom every now and again but that's about it. There is always this day though, this one crazy day in the year where we all usually come together and eat a turkey (or pork because my mom thinks turkey is dry) and just sit down at the table and then watch a film on the TV together. If I wanted to I suppose I could make the trip up there every weekend or so but there just is something different about doing it at Christmas and in a way (at least for me) it makes it that little bit more special. It has a purpose and a meaning, if you do something all the time it becomes the norm so maybe that’s why I enjoy it that little bit more.
In an odd way Christmas makes me want to be a dad. Any of the previous bah-humbugness that I was talking about would all just disappear for me. Kids will have the magic of Christmas all around them and I think it's beautiful to watch. Writing a letter to Santa is one of my favourite things to see, when I was a kid my grandma had a coal fire and my sister and me would write it on special paper and address it to the North Pole and drop it in the fire. The cookies and milk or sometimes brandy, and some carrots for the reindeer, you just never forget things like that. They are the kind of things that people should never stop doing. When I am grown up and actually do have children of my own (two, a boy and a girl) I will be fearful of the day when they stop believing in old St. Nick so that their eyes can remain blissfully ignorant to all the things that make boring old grown ups moan about Christmas.
I love Christmas films too, the old ones at least, the new ones are not so great. The Santa Claus with Dudley More is an old favourite of mine because it always brings back the memory of watching it when I was younger on a tiny TV in the living room with my mom, brother and sister. And the Muppet Christmas Carol is brilliant as well, although Michael Cain cannot sing at all. Still as much as I get annoyed by the blatant Buy Buy Buy attitude of almost every store in the westernised world the sentimental and nostalgic aspect of Christmas keeps me smiling (usually).
So on that note, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, may it be full of good food, good times and all of your family and friends.
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