This weeks Topical Tuesday is about the fast approaching (54 days and counting… ) Christmas.

For me, Christmas is a time about family and friends. Sure the odd present is nice to receive an even nicer to give but I much more enjoy the family aspect of the event… and, in recent years the promise of a Doctor Who special slotted in between the re-runs and oh so happy soap story lines is the icing on the mince pie.

Working in retail since I was 17 until only a couple of years ago I have it firmly ingrained in me at just what a commercialised event Christmas has become. The shelves would start to be stocked with Christmas items in late September, early October and as soon as Halloween was over it would start to take over the shop. I am still astonished when thinking of how much money used to be taken at the tills in Asda on the few days before Christmas. There would be a notice board in the staff area, always displaying a high 6 figured sum of the previous days takings and how much up (it was always up) on the same day last year.

And the shop was chaos. It was recommended not to even look at the length of the queue that was forming at your till. Just focus on the customer you are serving and apologise for the wait. The good thing though, although the store was mobbed and people were panic buying goose fat they were generally, 90% of the time in a good mood. Apart from the few people that came in 30 minutes before closing on Christmas eve fuming because we had ran out of Brussels sprouts and how it would ruin their Christmas because we didn’t have any left. And the customers that thought it was a great inconvenience that we were closing early and would be closed for 2 days. Almost as if the supermarket staff were not entitled to their own time of at Christmas.

However, despite the joys horrors of working in retail at Christmas I do still see the magic in the season. The weather (although a white Christmas would just top it all of for me), the food, the happiness and the small white fairy lights on trees amoung many other things still bring a smile to my face and I hope they continue to do so for years to come.

I am looking forward to this Christmas, our first in this house. I am already thinking about where to put the tree and am sourcing some outdoor lights to be put on a small potted tree that will go by our front door and… being now that we live in a bungalow and the fascias are in easy reach on a small step ladder I am considering other TASTEFUL lights to hang along the house.

And I am already loooking forward to the Roast duck (no turkey in this house!!) and all the trimmings. Including the cooking which I have done for the last 10 years or so. I absolutely love cooking Christmas dinner. And this year being the first were we have had the wonderful invention of a dish washer to help out, it should be even better.

So, in the end Christmas is what you make it. I always try not to get bogged down in the commercial side of things and hope to instil the family aspect of the time of year into any future children that I may have.

I hope, dear readers, that you have a good one and Santa brings you lots of happiness and full bellies.

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