I am a Christmas junkie. Unlike the Scrooges and the others who “just don’t get” the Christmas spirit, I am normally consumed by the feeling since November if not before.
A friend of mine came up with the term, Christmas junkie (CJ) but I bet that she can’t beat me, who, not once but twice began celebrating Christmas in July, which just happens to be the month of my birthday. I am that much into Christmas and not ashamed to tell anyone. It is my favourite season of the year.
Now, lest anyone think that for me, Christmas is all about gifts and that I am a selfish person, I must make this point. IT IS ABOUT GIFTS. Whatcha gonna do now? Fortunately for the salvation of my soul, I am usually the one giving gifts. While it’s great to receive and I can’t wait to find out what (if anything) I will get this year, I already have a list of what to get those dear to me, and in some cases have already gotten them.
I have little nephews and nieces who consider me Santa Claus and if they could, would very likely select me ‘Uncle Of The Year’. Nothing beats watching them trooping into my home Christmas morning and seeing joy light up their little faces as they are informed that Santa had stopped by and left some additional stuff for them.
To those who criticize and say it is wrong to fool children because Santa is not real, I invite them to visit my home on Christmas morning. But only for a short while, because I really can’t stand anything negative on the day itself.
I am a Christmas junkie and I have a permanent stash of Christmas CDs so that the season never catches me unprepared.
I am a Christmas junkie and I have decorations stored from last year, the year before…and the year before.
I get high on black cake and pepper-pot is not safe around me. Ask any of my relatives, who can tell tales of me dipping into the pot so that when Christmas Day dawns, only scraps are left. Every year they vow to hide the pot in a place I can’t find it. Every year I sniff it out. I can’t help it. I am a Christmas junkie, remember?
I wear my red hat every year and if it were in my power, Christmas would be every month. But that would leave me more broke than I normally am and more like that other kind of junkie so I have to concede that it is better that it remains once a year.
Sometimes I am worried that I don’t celebrate the real meaning of Christmas but then realize that a huge part of the season is bringing happiness to others, so at least I am doing a part. I reject any assertions by those Scrooges and others who say that Christmas has become too commercialized and they’d rather not participate. I say to them, ‘Go to Hell’. But that is not in the spirit of the season so I take it back. Instead I say, it is up to you to find/show the real meaning.
I accept that I eat a lot at Christmas and probably do a lot of things that I shouldn’t do but all in all, I think that I am a better person at Christmastime than I am at any other time of the year. And this is because I am a CJ. Like all those people who sign their name John Public, MBA or Joseph Peter, OE; at Christmastime I want to sign my name as ___________ _________, CJ.
Merry Christmas to all!
(thescene@stabroeknews.com)
