sashinka | observation orientated, with a twist of lime | a blog

I've said this before...

... but I think it merits saying it again. I don't really do Christmas. Xmas. X marks the spot-mas. I mean, I'm happy to offer people season's greetings, and I send a handful of non-Jewish (I know, I know, it makes it sound like the whole world's Jewish and just a small proportion is non)friends and colleagues cards.

But I don't write my xmas present list in September (or at all) and I don't decorate my house/soho (small office home office), and I don't do turkey or trimmings or mince pies with whisky cream (although they sound remarkably nice).

I don't not do these things. I just don't do them. The lat couple of years I actually did celebrate xmas to some degree and it was fun. It was fun because it's a yomtov - it's about family and community and food (and presents).

But I don't do tinsel. Or xmas gnomes. Or seasonal music. Or mushy, glittery cards. And I don't get drunk every night for a month (but then lots of people don't, and I don't do that the rest of the year). I don't do xmas lunch. Or the Queen's speech (see, I felt Queen should have a capital Q, even though I'm not a royalist, and think the whole royal family should be demutualised, like a building society, and we should all share the money, which'll be like £1,500 each, which we could spend on xmas, if we wanted).

What reminded me about all of this is that, because I don't do xmas, I forget. Last year, on about December 23rd I went to Brent Cross because I needed something. And I totally didn't realise that I'd be in a car park for a week and people would be stressy and shouty and silly. And rude. Kinda like Golders Green is all the time.

So this is really to remind myself that I must try not to go to a shop until well into January. I have everything I need, and I don't want to be a victim of shopping-rage or parking-stress, and I can just gracefully bow out of all this stuff without actually participating. Because, I have enough yomtovs, and this one isn't mine.