Christmas has never felt so far away, and I have never wrapped presents feeling so tired. Outside the snow, or sleet, has begun, Sinatra and Bing are hijacking every radio station, and the sellotape is speedily selling out, but it's still a struggle to get out of bed in the morning. Because to be honest, Christmas can't help just being another day on which we are all human beings, and so normal amounts of people end up headachey, have appendicitus, have a house fire, and far more than normal prbably throw up, but then Christmas is ruined because we all heap so much expectation on that one day.
24 hours like any other as far as our bodies are concerned. Last year I was so tired by the time the big day itself finally rolled round I fell sound asleep in front of the doctor who Christmas special. Another time the oven broke, and we ended up eating turkey at 5. On your average saturday these would not be an issue, a good thing as far as the nap goes, and would be forgotten in a day. Yet becuase they just happened to fall on December the 25th, they remain ingrained in my mind as fluctuations from the set xmas routines.
So this year I'm going to get it perfectly right, by getting it wrong. Christmas will be a day for relaxing, whatever goes wrong, and as an annual lover of tradition, festive food, and the inevitable boardgames, this will be a hard challenge.
Because as scroogey as I sound (and I am probably just in need of a night's sleep before i'll be bopping alone, sprouting tinsel and good cheer like the rest of the country) I love Christmas. Lucky, then, that we're going away, so that if it all goes peep Tom, and I fail to stick to my it-doesn't-matter-it's-just-a-day resolution, I'll have some other family to blame.
