What Do You Love Best About Christmas?

Christmas is different for everyone. As a child, it’s something magical when every day off school watching Santa Claus the Movie and Will Ferrel’s ‘Elf’ promises to ramp up the anticipation. It was a little different when I was young, We had James Stewart in a black and white “It’s a Wonderful Life” to look forward to, but what are the chances of a child watching something like that today?

Whatever Christmas means to you, it’s usually something to do with family. You either relish the chance to spend ‘quality’ time with them or dread the thought of everyone coming around and making a mess in your home instead of theirs. Kids play with cousins and get jealous of what they didn’t get and fail to see value and effort in what they’ve actually received. Whoever said “it’s better to give than to receive” certainly wasn’t a spoilt child with a ‘hard done-by’ complex.

Really Though…Decorating in November?

Now that November is upon us, silly season is really starting with the village competition that would put the space race to shame. Except this time, it’s a case of who snaps first and decides to decorate their home and garden first. Like a reverse auction gone wrong, people check their neighbour’s houses each day to see who’ll break first. The best ones simply left them up from last year and only need to flick a switch to get the jump on everyone else.

That’s it though, kids just love to see the start of Christmas and begin to build themselves up to crescendo long before many of us have even started Christmas shopping. I’m a December panic-shopper who leaves everything until last minute, whereas my sister starts ‘putting things away’ for next Christmas almost as soon as the last one is over.

Christmas in your Face

It’s hard for us to avoid Christmas because our business is Festive Lights and if we don’t embrace Christmas early each year then we wouldn’t be very good at our jobs. So, yes, you can blame us for encouraging people to buy their Christmas lights and decorations early and those people I mentioned that take the lead in silly season are our best customers. Thankfully, our home is not like Santa’s Grotto in peak season, although we do have more than enough lights when the time is right; we just don’t believe in ramming our business down our friend’s throats and treating our home like an extension of the workplace.

Honestly Though

You may be mistaken for thinking I have a low opinion of Christmas, but nothing is further from the truth. I do understand that December is one of our busiest months of the year and that means a lot of hard work, both in my job and at home, but I honestly believe it’s worth every late night because those are the times when we are allowed to regress to our inner-child. Every you have ever been to Disney World, then you know exactly how much fun it is to be a child again.

For me, the Christmas feeling is something that’s hard to put into words because there’s nothing tangible to describe. It’s a mood, an atmosphere and the Christmas spirit all rolled into one and despite the few annoying relatives and dishes to clean that you didn’t realise you had, Christmas is there to cherish.

About the Author

Karen Underwood is a mother and business owner who loves nothing more than to spend time with her family. She loves Christmas, but Christmas shopping – not so much.