It’s got to that time of year again when my daughter-in-law starts nagging me to put up a Christmas tree. Hers goes up around the beginning of December, but I find that as I grow older I have tended to take my mother’s point of view and sigh.
As as child I don’t ever remember my mother putting up a Christmas tree. However, there was an artificial one in the loft, and Dad would get it down if I asked him to. I’d then decorate it and make it look nice, but if it hadn’t been for my efforts my parents would never have bothered with any Christmas decorations. At the time I couldn’t understand why they would not want a tree in their front room. What they looked forward to at Christmas (and me too) was the all-night East End parties with the family, where we sang and danced until we could dance no more.
So… scrap the food and scrap the tree and decorations. I’d give anything to have those parties back again, but the family then were of the older generation and of course have all departed this life. The young people now would rather sit and look at their phones than sing and dance and it’s not quite the same, and so I consider myself very lucky that I was of an age to experience times when relatives all got together to talk, sing and dance and where there was not a single phone in sight.
I’ll be hosting a get-together for the current generations on Boxing Day. They’ll eat and talk and the kids will run around, but every few minutes they’ll all be checking their phones to get their fix, because their mobile phone addiction is rather chronic. There will be music on in the background, which is politely endured by the younger members. They will play music to me on their phones by bands I’ve never heard of, and I will think myself lucky that I grew up when I did. However ,I’m sure they will also think themselves lucky that they only have to listen to rock music when they visit us.
It’s a funny old game, this game of life. At the age of 62 I now realise why my mother could never be bothered to put up a Christmas tree. What a faff it all is, and it all looks so tacky! I also don’t make Christmas puddings, mince pies or anything else connected with the holiday season. As far as I’m concerned it’s all artery-clogging gunk and the body doesn’t need it. Yeah, it’s all a bit ‘Bah Humbug’, but I for one will be glad when the razzmatazz and hype is over and we can all get back to normal! I’m not at all religious, and it’s a shame that Christmas is so commercialised for anybody who is.
Oh yes… I forgot… Merry Christmas everybody (ho ho chuffing ho)! Sam’s got the Christmas tree out of the loft to please the daughter-in-law, and now I’ve got to put the bloody thing up…
Phil Huston said:
Last year the grandkids were with their father. I had a surgery false alarm. Christmas stayed in the attic. I have to say I didn’t miss it…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Stevie Turner said:
Lol. I can’t wait to get away to the Isle of Wight on 27th December and recuperate for a week!
LikeLike
dgkaye said:
Omg, so relatable! (As usual, lol). I hear you on the chronic appendages to cell phones. And I too always loved Christmas and putting up the tree until the last few years. When we lived in our houses I hosted seasonal parties and couldn’t be without a tree. Last year we went away for the winter on New Year’s day so I scrapped the tree. We go to hub’s family for Christmas so I’m feeling rather lazy about now having to go dig stuff up in the locker in the basement of our condo, lol. But I did ask the hub if he wants a tree, and I think he does. So I may just take out the little 3 footer table top tree for a compromise. 🙂 xx
LikeLiked by 2 people
Stevie Turner said:
I’ve put the tree up to please the daughter-in-law and the granddaughter. It makes for an easier life.
LikeLiked by 2 people
dgkaye said:
Copy that! LOL 🙂 xx
LikeLiked by 2 people
Ashlynn Waterstone said:
A suggestion to shake things up.
Make everyone put their electronic devices in a box of some kind as they enter the party area. Tell them from now on that this about family spending time with family. You can then enlighten them with a family story that they may never have heard before. Perhaps tell them a story of why you love the music that you love. History is important and before you know it, it will be lost on the generation. If all the power were to go out or simply the internet, where would they gain knowledge. Share your wisdom while you can. If they don’t like it – that is tough. It is your party and your rules. Eventually, they will come to appreciate it. Their reward for enduring things… their devices back and hopefully more respect for their elders.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Stevie Turner said:
Ha ha, my son is rather high up in management and seems to be permanently on call, even at Christmas. That phone would need to be surgically removed from his ear…
LikeLiked by 1 person
tidalscribe said:
We never put our tree up till the end of term – to fill those flat days between the Xmas excitement at school and actual Xmas Day. Also a tree that has been up for weeks looks weary!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Stevie Turner said:
And one also grows weary of looking at it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
jenanita01 said:
I know exactly where you’re coming from, Stevie. Hardly anything is real any more and I for one am sick of pretending to enjoy myself. I am the cook in our house, so will probably miss most of it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Stevie Turner said:
Yeah, it’s all false jollity. Then you read about how many couples fall out over the Christmas holidays when the effort to be jolly proves too much. I’m cooking the turkey on Christmas Eve, then taking it to my son’s house on Christmas Day. My daughter-in-law will cook everything else!
LikeLiked by 2 people
parkermccoy said:
I think the magic of the Christmas season goes down quite a bit after childhood. I still enjoy it but not in the same way. I think the best thing you can do is give to charity. That always makes me feel pretty awesome. However, I can be a bit humbug myself. I’m not a huge fan of big family get togethers. I would be if everyone did something fun but I don’t care for sitting around and gossipping which is all most people do or so I have seen. If we all played games, I’d be into it. I guess it’s all in how you look at it.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Stevie Turner said:
I quite like the get-togethers. If only they’d leave the phones at home…
LikeLike
jwebster2 said:
My sort of Christmas Stevie 🙂
For me Christmas day was always the bit that fitted between morning and afternoon milking
LikeLiked by 4 people
Stevie Turner said:
Did the cows know it was Christmas time at all?
LikeLiked by 1 person
jwebster2 said:
🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
robertawrites235681907 said:
I am putting my Christmas chaos tree up on Monday and the nieces and nephews are coming over to help.
LikeLiked by 3 people
robertawrites235681907 said:
Haha, Stevie, and I bake my Christmas cakes at the end of October.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Stevie Turner said:
Wow. None of my family like Christmas cake, and I haven’t made a cake since 1990 and have no intention of ever making one again ha ha!
LikeLiked by 1 person
By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
Okay. Pete is definitely rubbing off on you!😂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Stevie Turner said:
No I’ve held these views for years. I have one word that describes it all … fake. Fake snow, fake Santa, fake jollity…
LikeLiked by 2 people