It's on again!

I'm talking about the lead-up to Christmas.  It starts earlier every year.  Back in February I wrote a piece about the approach of Easter and my feeling of being overwhelmed by obligatory annual celebrations. 

There have been Christmas cards on display mocking me since the end of September. In October mounds of tinselly decorations turned up to trip me in the supermarket aisles.  At the same time my sister-in-law announced that she had made her usual half-dozen Christmas cakes for this year.  (Good on her - but I happen to know they have eaten at least one of those already!) 

I know these things are sent to fill a commercial gap just prior to November when we have to face up to Halloween hijinks, Melbourne Cup madness and Guy Faux's fireworks (still celebrated in N.Z.but here in some states only).  Now with these events out of the way we can get back to some serious anticipation of Christmas.

Driving home from a restaurant last night we were confronted by the sight of a full-sized Christmas tree, all lit up, beaming from the window of a small upstairs unit (apartment).  There were kids milling around - presumably still adding the finishing touches.  Boy will they be sick of it by the time Dec. 25th arrives.  And I reckon their Mum will be tired of dragging the vacuum cleaner under and around it too.  I made a mental note not to drive down that street again if I can avoid it.

Now I await the arrival of the first smug greeting card.  It's a toss-up between the same three early birds every year.  It's almost as though they're saying 'I'm a super efficient person so let's get this business over so, unlike you, we can sit back and have a stress free Christmas Day'. I don't give them due respect but leave their cards hidden among the bills and junk mail for at least a month until I'm ready to face up to Christmas.  Christmas eve shopping excursions are the norm for me.  I usually mail the last few cards at the same time.  Gift selection becomes extremely fast when it's half an hour to closing time.  That's my brand of efficiency.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not a total Scrooge. There are some things I love about Christmas.  I love receiving the long and reflective newsletters from old and distant friends.  And I like to find ways of Australianising our celebrations, with cold seafood relacing the turkey, and branches of New South Wales Christmas Bush (Ceratopetalum gummiferum) unstead of holly and mistle-toe. 

Not this year though.  By a real twist of fate, the Christmas Bush I planted three years ago turned up its toes in the last drought, while the potted English holly, planted out at about the same time, might still be only 12 inches high, but is doing very well thank you, and I see it's about to flower for the first time.  Rather a surprise I thought - perhaps we'll be having a bowl of fresh red berries on the table this year.  Not so, I soon discovered.  My reference book tells me you need male and female plants to create the berries.  There's something new to be learnt every day.

We are not planning a big Christmas this time.  This is our "off" year when the kids will be going to the in-laws.  With time to spare maybe I will get the gifts all wrapped and sent and the greetings away on time.  This is totally out of character for me, but here's an early greeting for one and all: 

"HAPPY LEAD-UP TO CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!"

Comments

[pat]

Oh..this post gives me that stressed out feeling right in the gut. Christmas...coming again this year? Didn't we just do this? I know..we'll get through it like we always do, but I'm getting more "Bah, humbug!" every year.

[Tjilpi]

Thanks Jude - for upping my stress level one notch!

I'm intrigued by your mention of Christmas Turkey. I believe this is a recent addition to our Australian Christmas mythology. When I was a kid it was chook. The two best chooks in Granddad's chook yard were selected on Christmas Eve. I'd watch him chop off their heads, remove the giblets and pluck them. I believe that turkey has only recently arrived on the Australian Christmas menu as a result of our cultural drift to things North American.

Recently, when reading about Thanksgiving, I discoverd that turkey is a native North American species and so would have had to be introduced to England as well for Scrooge to knock it back!

[Tjilpi]

I'm not au fait with Trackback technology. Do I need to learn it? Would it make it any easier to crack the Pablo code? Three hours of work to do that. Sheesh.

[farmer john]

Hey Jude. For some reason (probably chauvinistic) I had the impression you were of the male persuasion; so pardon my comment about viagra on Tjilpi's site. T's comment about chook was interesting. I am guessing it is some variety of chicken since one has to lop off the head first????

[Alice]

Not sure how recent is recent according to Tjilpi? I know we've been having turkey for Christmas for 40 years and no doubt many Australians were celebrating with it long before that.

To Farmer John - 'chook' usually refers to something older than chicken and in this instance it most likely would have been a rooster or mature hen.