Seasonal Spirit

If you’re a Christian and maybe even if you aren’t, chances are, at least one of your happy childhood memories will involve Christmas. Now I’m not much of a Christian, in fact the only reason that I put down “Christianity” in the blank space after “Religion: ” is because its what my parents practise. If things were left to me…well that’s a discussion for another day.
Anyway, as I was saying, kid memories of Christmas. I remember how cool it felt when I was cast as King Herod in the school nativity play. Herod’s the only guy who’s sitting comfortably, in no less than a throne, mind you. And he gets to gesture majestically and generally look down on everyone else. Hey, even Jesus didn’t get to do that!
It’s a different matter that I was a shepherd the next year.

The carols were actually what would get me excited about Christmas. I guess it’s the same for every kid. Even if I knew Christmas was two weeks away, I didn’t feel it till I heard the music. I loved Jim Reeves’ “Twelve Songs of Christmas” but the folks insisted on playing Boney M’s Christmas album. Whatever it was, it brought a warm and fuzzy feeling with it and for nigh on three weeks no one got tired of the same old songs everyday.

That was like a lifetime ago.

Over the years Mr. Reeves crawled into the back of a dusty drawer with Boney M in hot pursuit. They were replaced by some Goan crap and my enthusiasm went out the window. But that wasn’t the reason why I stopped waiting for December, why I stopped fighting for a chance to decorate the tree, why I didn’t care about the presents anymore. After Christmas came the two weeks’ refractory period which included the momentary high and low of New Year’s Eve followed by New Year’s Day. Then came the rest of January, when people began to go back to their real selves and warm and fuzzy left on vacation. As soon as I concluded that Christmas was just an excuse for people to indulge themselves, all sentiment was lost. “Hey, it’s Christmas!” could be an excuse for anything from bumming cash off a friend to extra servings of a cholesterol filled dinner to a quickie right after church. And all the while people try and walk the roads with a serene air as if they’ve temporarily found inner peace. (Except when they’re doing last minute shopping) So where does the serenity go during the rest of the year? Why aren’t people just as nice and neighborly, February through November?

Now I begin to cringe around the second week of the twelfth month of every year as I feel the almost mandatory air of cheesy seasonal cheer set in around me. I can still stand some of the songs, but only some. So now the month is just cold, the holiday has grown old and I can’t remember a recent December when I haven’t been bitter on the inside.


On a related topic, I can’t stand it when I read, or worse, hear the word “Xmas”. Why doesn’t anyone have the time to use a slightly longer syllable in “Christmas”? It’s the correct word! Recently I found out that “X” was actually used as a symbol for Christ in some old times. I will not even consider the possibility that the average syllable slicer is aware of this, so I will just continue to be pissed off at every one of them.


One tequila, Two tequila, Three tequila, Floor

Fiona Apple – Across the Universe