Merry Christmas to you all

As we edge ever closer to Christmas one is drawn to remember the Christmas celebrations in the past. This is increasingly so as one gets older since, with a mixture of hindsight and a sense of becoming excluded, either by ill health or defective memory and tinged with the fact you are becoming one of that rare breed "last man standing", you are increasingly marginalised and lonely. 

I must make it clear none of this has anything to do with me since I am fortunate in having a caring family, my health is good and I have a canny Yorkshireman's habit of not getting carried away when it comes to spending money. Still working, it leaves me with the feeling that I have irons in the fire and that I make a contribution but there are many who don't feel this way and for them Christmas is not such a happy time.

Societies craving to make a fuss at this time of the year is a mixture of a time when people used to make the effort to come together and celebrate their family connection and of course it has now become a marketing tool to swell the pockets of the shareholder with the year on year introduction of a "special day" to go out and spend, dragging  the last remnant of common sense out of millions of 'credit card' devotees. 

The insipid films which churn out the Christmas story in all its unlikely imagery have been on our screens for a month or more, softening us up for the Ho Ho Ho serendipity Glowing faces, happy children, tinsel and decoration convert our homes into a setting for the scripted annual event which, as much as we may grumble, never seems to fail to lighten even the most sour temperament. Like children we respond to the carols and the excitement of the youngsters as they hold fast for one more year in their belief of Santa. The parties and the excuses to indulge in more than what is good for one makes for a covert moment when we throw off the 'good intention' and loose our heads in a little light hearted shenanigan.
It rises to a crescendo on New Years Eve with an eye watering fireworks display as cities across the globe seek to out-do each other in setting fire to as much, wiz bang money as they can cram into 5 or so minutes. It's a last crazy irresponsible act of abandon, a last drink before the sun comes up and one surveys the wreckage of another year and  the  mother of all binges (to your wallet if nothing else) and a sure as hell recollection that you promised last year was to be the last. The bill is waiting, the clock ticking, will we never learn !!!