I find Christmas more than a little annoying and feel that I need to reason out why. This is mostly for my own benefit but you can like or comment if you want to.

Christmas and religion – Jesus’ supposed birthday, when the child of God was supposed to have been born. This would be fine if this was what Christmas was, instead it had turned into another opportunity for shops to make money selling decorations, gifts and cut-price goods. We claim this change is down to Santa or St Nicholas with his gift giving but Christmas is on the 25th and St Nicholas’ day is on the 5th, 6th or 19th depending on where you come from. Either way Santa and gift giving have taken over most of it, yes I know some people still look at it religiously but even non Christians like myself can join in if it’s about Santa instead of Jesus.

Christmas and chaos – Cooking, cleaning, present buying, TV showing a limited number of things and shops swapping out their regular stock for more Christmassy items. Then of course there’s the cost of it all, many workplaces closing for a bit stopping production and the clear out of old stuff to make room for new things.

Christmas and the anti-climax – There’s all the build up and a bit of happiness surrounding Christmas but afterwards what is there? Boxing day and new year but then life returns to how it always was. We have a nice time every Christmas but is a nice time worth everything else? I bet I could have the same amount of fun and laughter in the middle of July if the culture provided for it as well as it does in December.

We go through all this every year and it’s just because we’ve always done it so we keep on doing it as a tradition. There are some things that are good though.

Christmas and religion – Christianity is different to Islam, Sikhism, Judaism and every other religion and has it’s own holidays devoted to it but because of the way Santa and the shops have got involved Christianity is what I think religion should be, not preaching (except for those that want it) but a way to unite people in a common goal. Christmas happens as a countrywide event where almost everyone gets time off work and access to cheaper items in shops making it inclusive as everyone can get involved in the mad scramble that the end of December has become.

Christmas and TV – Regular programmes that are shown on TV draw to a conclusion or take a break around Christmas time so instead of showing them many channels show movies instead making it a good time to get some sweets (which shops are selling) and gather your family (Christmas is good family time too) to sit down for two or three hours and just enjoy yourselves.

Christmas and food – A big dinner, two meats and a jumbo version of a Sunday dinner. Potatoes, both mashed and roasted. Vegetables, the one time a vegetable is required is the traditional sprout at Christmas, even if no-one likes them you still buy them because it’s Christmas. Pigs in blankets and stuffing. A starter of soup or ham and eggs (the only starter we have all year) with buns, tarts and chocolate for after. This is the best time of the year for a meal in my house.

I suppose I’m not as annoyed about Christmas now, it’s actually better than I thought. I might even agree with Roy Wood and would wish it was Christmas every day if I didn’t expect that that would diminish how special I feel it is.

Anyway, this should be my last post of 2017 so thank you to everyone that has read anything I’ve written, have a happy Christmas and try to have a good new year.