This morning when I parked my car at the underground parking lot in the middle of town, I could hear familiar tunes coming out from the loudspeakers of the marketsquare. It went something like "jingle bells, jingle bells..." and after that those darned jingeling bells went on jingeling my poor scull the whole day through. It was at that moment I realised it had caught me off guard. Once again. The spirit of Christmas. But not the good one...(As follows, a translation of a text I wrote exactly one year ago)
I would get by just fine without Christmas. Fact is I would be better off without Christmas, than with Christmas. And to really "step out of the closet" concerning the upcoming holiday I may just aswell admit that Christmas gives me the creeps. I make this announcement to you now, dear friends, right after the commercial Christmas celebrations has started - in my hometown - last weekend.
I am lousy at shopping, and especially for Christmas gifts. It has just as much to do with the fact that I don't know what You want, as with my earnest conviction that You do not need more chocolate boxes, scarves, DVD-movies, aromatic candles, designer coffee mugs, thinsulate gloves or bath-foam. To stand in line at a big super market in the middle of the biggest shopping rush of the year makes me feel sick, and at the very moment I stand there overheated but in a cold sweat, it is bound to happen: ALL acquaintances and friends I have not met in a year or so suddenly appear to say hello, right there and then. Not that I don't want to meet you - I do! - but NOT in Hades the week before Christmas.
"Now, if you carefully prepare yourself and get all the presents in time the stress will not become so imminent", the reasonable Christmas-fan might object. No, no, no! Why prolong the misery? Why start the commercial Christmas earlier than absolutely necessary? IS it even necessary? Ever?
Christmas could be such a nice holiday. It certainly has its potential, whether You're celebrating the birth of Christ or midvinterblot (winter solstice) or whatever. The vacation and time for leisure is well needed in the middle of darkness. But we also need to avoid the stress and desperate ordeal around unnecessary things so that real Christmas peace can present itself to us. At least for a few hours between all the other often somewhat hysterical traditions. In my country it's almost a sacrilage not to watch Walt Disney's X-mas greetings on TV every year...
Well, well. I am likely to eat a few gingerbread (maybe dissect the gingerbread house in advance?) this year aswell. Maybe we'll put the Christmas illuminations up too. And if You run into a grumpy, rednosed creature with its woollen cap almost covering the face and a lot of junk in its shopping trolley, it is not necessarily an overworked and exhausted Santa Claus. It might be me.
And I will not enjoy it.
6 kommentarer:
Jag imponeras ännu en gång av din engelska. I det här inlägget höjde jag speciellt på ögonbrynen åt ordet "imminent". I saay.... !!!!
O. Lady, oikeesti, "winter solstice", erkänn att du slagit upp det! :)
Jag väntar med spänning på att du ska börja översätta dina inlägg till akademisk spanska :)
Nä, men jag slog upp midvinterblot! ;-)
Någon akademisk spanska blir det inte tal om, men jag har lärt mig lite vardagstyska - senast: "So ist das Leben, schmutzig als ein kinderhemp!"
Håll till godo! :-D
You made me laugh Anni, and I tend to agree!
I stopped buying for adults that do not need anything. As for my little grandchildren I write their parents a check. I will not buy MORE toys or try to figure out sizes for clothes. It is up to the parents what to do with the money..college savings account is one application that I like. :)
Soon it will pass..in the meantime we can focus on the good things of the season..like hot chocolate, and chocolate pecan pie!
Calming energies and peace of heart to you!
Tänk om ett litet stearinljus, skulle räcka för de flesta.. vilken enorm skillnad det skulle bli. På livskvaliteten, och "after-christmas" kontot.. Men det ska nog en energikatastrof, för att åstadkomma något sådant nymodigt..insiktsfullt.
Aww, I am a sucker for holidays. Or more correctly, I am a sucker for the idea of a perfect holiday. My siblings and I sometimes muse about it and we always end up laughing about how similar our ideas of a perfect Christmas would be. We know full well it won't ever happen, but we love that wonderful idea.
Amazon cures the shopping related stress, and since Mum and Dad don't live here they don't know if I clean all that throughly for Christmas! Just dim the disgusting artificial lights and light some real candles and ta-da: dust bunnies vanish! Works like magic!
I do share your dislike for early Christmas decor. Two weeks ago I saw the first Christmas window display here...
Gypsy
Thank You for sending me calming energies, I need them! AND some hot chocolate can never be wrong this time of year! ;-)
I happen to work in the middle of town and as soon as I go outside the commercial christmas overwhelmes me. Some supermarkets and shops keep all their christmas stuff (usually huge amounts!)placed so that they're the first thing You see when You enter - I can't stand it and so it becomes difficult for me even to acquire necessary things needed for everyday purposes - like food, sanitary items etc. Some years it's been so bad I don't even want to go out to lunch with my colleagues or friends because of it.
I want PEACE for Christmas, that's what I want!
Guni
Du är för ljuvlig, vet du det! :-)
En del av mina kära adepter har en ekonomi som inte tillåter några som helst utsvävningar och både för de som klarar av att hålla i slantarna, och de som INTE gör det, är julhandeln i vilket fall som helst en mental påfrestning.
Stearinljus är egentligen den enda "julprydnad" jag verkligen gillar, och en vedbrasa i spisen om man har tillgång till så'n. :-)
M
At least You seem to have a pretty relaxed attitude regarding the holidays... ;-)
I know what You mean and I used to dream about perfect christmases too. Really traditional ones. But they cause stress too, and to me it's not worth it. Personally I believe that the early public decor and commercial fuzz tend to exaggerate people's expectations: makes us long more, dream more, plan more, spend more... so that when christmas finally comes we're too stressed to relax - and when it's over we just feel tired and disappointed.
... AND there's another problem with the decor aswell... a lot of it is butt-ugly! Even when it comes to our own decorations and illuminations I need them gone by New Year - at the latest!
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