Waiting For it to Hit Home
Hmmm. I am not a big fan of Christmas, really. Which is not to say that I don’t enjoy it, because I do, more that there are a million things about the season which fucking irritate the living shit out of me. A simple example would be the appearance of Christmas decorations in shops in October; that annoys everyone, I know, I am not claiming to be unique here. High Street Christmas is an ungodly shitfest of an invention, and the less I have to do with it the happier I am, generally.
Then, on the other hand, there’s actual Christmas. There’s the dark and the cold, both of which I love, funnily enough. Then there’s the quiet evenings with family and all the food and watching the Back to the Future Trilogy one after another and all that sort of stuff. Hell, I even kinda like the decorations. I really like that Christmas.
The thing is, the first, shitty kind of Christmas starts really early so it’s basically the only kind of Christmas there is available for the best part of two months. Then, at some undefinable point, Proper Christmas quietly takes over and the whole thing becomes very pleasant indeed. My Mum’s already been in touch to ask what kind of things we’d like her to cook when we get to France on Christmas Eve. Christmas trees are available everywhere, and for some reason I really like Christmas trees. So it’s starting: actual good, decent proper Christmas is starting to rear its head, but it’s not there yet.
For some reason I am still waiting to actually feel at all Christmassy. I suppose the contradiction of despising the high street at this time of year is that if you boycott it entirely, which we have, and if you make no actual Christmas effort yourself, which we haven’t, then you end up just a little short of the cues to trigger that Christmas feeling, which their relentlessly avaricious Yulery tends to do whether you like it or not.
So I think that at some point, probably towards the end of next week when everyone in the office stops even pretending and I start to feel a genuine panic at not having bought my bloody mother anything, I will start to feel that warm, restful, bosom-of-the-family kind of Christmas feeling, but it hasn’t happened yet. I can see Christmas starting to happen all around me, but for some reason I am still waiting to actually feel like it’s Christmas time.
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Right Now I’m A-Roaming
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Lift to Experience – Waiting to Hit
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I started to feel Christmassy at the beginning of last week, as I saw the Kew decorations go up (which was wonderfully late and tasteful for the council with it being December 1st). Took last weekend in the countryside for our yearly uni friends Christmas piss up which was great…
But now, stuck in the library and mocks all next week I’m feeling that Christmas glow starting to ebb away.
Kew is a fucking amazing place, their decorations must be really nice.
Didn’t the biblically proprtioned hangover on Sunday give you a hint that Christmas was approaching?..
I have to say, it kind of hit home today. Decorations going up round the office. Makes even the most cynical people smile. But also, I live with a very bouncey Christmas lover and a 10 month old boy. So December 1st signifies the start of it all every year and I am assuming as Roddy gets older, despite any complaints from me, this is only going to get worse and worse. Still, I love winter and I love Christmas. So I’m not complaining.
Just read Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” or if you haven’t got a copy or a library nearby download the unabridged audiobook read by Geoffrey Palmer. Works for me every time.
I like “A Christmas Carol”, I think it’s a wonderful story.
In terms of interpretations, I am a fan of the Patrick Stewart, Richard E. Grant version from a few years ago.
I always keep an eye out for that in the TV schedules.
Or, if you need to nurture your inner Grinch, anything with than unspeakable arse-clown Jim Carrey will keep the anti-Christmas fires in very fine fettle.
In fact he may just make you want to find a cute, fluffy bunny and stamp on its fucking head.
Personally, I prefer the Mr. Magoo version. I particularly like the song sung by the thieves who stole Scrooge’s bed-curtains, etc.
“We’re rep-re-hensible;
We’ll steal your pen,
And pencible.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOJBU95pVmw
It makes me cackle just thinking about it.
The bit where the undertaker throws flowers at the end just kills me.
I really like Scrooged, with Bill Murray.
Also, Elf.
Probably the best xmas movie of the last few years. And I think its on the tellybox this weekend.
“My Mum’s already been in touch to ask what kind of things we’d like her to cook when we get to France on Christmas Eve. Christmas trees are available everywhere, and for some reason I really like Christmas trees”.
I’ve never eaten a xmas tree before………
Prickly
Christmas trees would be good for you, they have antibacterial qualities. They would leave you pine fresh and germ free flush after flush.
And boy oh boy would they scrape out your colon!
Is that what a “yule log” is?
Boom tish!
He waits and waits…
A word of thanks to Broken Records last night for Christmas crackers and a slightly ramshackle (in comparison to the rest of their show) Fairytale of New York. I finally feel Christmas spirted.
Fairytale of New York was fucking inspired, actually. Well played lads!
I’m really sorry I missed that.
Though I suspect there may be more seasonal covers in store this weekend.
I never thought I’d hear myself say this but, erm, excellent. Go! Christmas covers!
I think Eagleowl are going to do a cover of ‘I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday’ by Roy Wood and Wizzard.
I am more or less done with Christmas. It is rubbish and it needs to go away.
Fairy Tale of New York is the only thing Christmas has ever done. I don’t need Christmas’s permission to have dinner with my family.
well i saw a really shit print of scrooged at the pictures at the weekend. and i played the low christmas album today (which only ever comes out a few weeks before santa descends (and i love the fact i can only play it for a teeny wee bit of time every year)).
so i guess it’s christmas for me now.
Ach I don’t mind Christmas, but then, I stay well away from the shops and don’t watch any telly so basically I miss all the ads and all the tat which is being hawked. That makes it all a lot less obnoxious, that’s for sure.
And I may even have a mince pie tomorrow.
If not I expect you’ll just mince round like usual
I was a total cynical twat about Christmas until about 8 hours ago. I went and had a lovely evening in town with mother dearest, did some fun shopping, wandered the German market and went for a nice meal. Now I’m in the mood for ‘Crimbo’. Some lights and smells do fucking wonders. Oh, and mulled cider. Mmmmmmmmm…
Yeah, I can muster up enthusiasm for just about anything after a few glasses of wine.
Daughters birthday or The Pogues concert on Sunday?
hell she’ll get Christmas in a couple of weeks, with Shane I feel its always a bit uncertain.