It’s that time of year once more.
(No, not the one where I take a bath).
The one where, suddenly, Halloween decorations are sold simultaneously with tinsel and baubles in the same aisle for a couple of weeks, followed by just festive decorations in mid-November if you’re lucky (if you aren’t so lucky, there are Easter eggs popping up as well).
It’s almost as if people feel like there isn’t much to look forward to (what with the direction the world is going in…) so the shops try to pack everything in all at once.
The air is saturated with Bing Crosby (oo-er), Shakin’ Stevens, Rudolph, Paul McCartney and the gang. By December the 1st, it reaches a point where every time you enter a shop or supermarket you leave with an earworm, humming a carol without even realising it.
Every advert on the TV features something faintly disturbing, like Kevin the talking carrot, a melting snowman, or Macauley Caulkin screaming. Reruns of old Top of the Pops shows with songs so “cute” you want to barf (sadly I am looking at you, Orville.)
Then there’s the mad rush to buy people presents — thankfully, I manage to avoid this part by gradually collecting things for people over the year.
But once all the build-up is done with and the day finally arrives, it’s still worth it… and some parts of it haven’t been too shabby.
My home town erected its first giant Christmas tree and had a special switching-on-of-the-lights celebration towards the end of November, something of a novelty.
There were windows decorated with fake snow:
And condensation… some people kept their establishments open late:
And there was one window full of miniature dioramas, some of them moving. That was the building used for “Santa’s Grotto” though being a singleton in my thirties, I refrained from entering!
For the first time since moving into my flat, I have a fully-decked tree with lights. I’m all about dem lights, bro.
This year I aim to make eggnog. Without getting food poisoning, of course. Below is a recipe for eggnog, which will come in handy:
https://www.maryswholelife.com/dairy-free-eggnog/
However, with my strange health condition, I will have to tweak the above recipe so it has no alcohol or maple syrup. So it will be warm, moderately spicy egg-milk, hopefully with no scrambled bits.
There will be a family gathering of some sort, though since the pandemic it’s been challenging to work out who’s going where and when and what they want / don’t want. (Things haven’t gotten completely back to normal for my family yet, unfortunately. Is anyone else in the same boat post-covid? Leave a comment about it, if so.)
I wish all of my readers (all twelve of you? only joking) a peaceful and happy Christmas with not too much Brussel sprouts-gas.
Nightwalks 