So that was Christmas …
… and what have I done? Rather than summarise my Christmas in 25 words like I did last year, I thought I might write at length this year and break the habit of twittering my thoughts these days.
Leaving aside the build up to Christmas which I scarcely noticed, going to work on Christmas Eve was probably the official start. I never really caught the Christmas spirit this year – I’m 25% grumpier than this time last year I reckon, probably down to work/life imbalance. Plus, for the first time I can recall, I was actually working on Christmas Eve – probably not a good sign in hindsight. The trains were nice and empty though.
Walking through the City of London and seeing loads of kids going to work with their parents was a nice moment. Got me me thinking about what would happen if we put kids in charge of the economy, I mean they couldn’t make anymore of a mess of it, right? At the very least they would know that actual marbles are worth more the promise of marbles and not to trust sums that they can’t understand.
I’m content to experience Christmas through the kids these days. Maisie is 8 years old now and delicately poised between her childish beliefs and wanting to be more of a grown up. This balancing act in her mind was encapsulated in the letter she wrote to Santa asking him all sorts of proper journo questions like “Do you mind when people dress up and pretend to be you?” and “Do you and Mrs Claus give each other presents?”. This Christmas may have been the last time we were able to suspend her belief in Santa Claus so twas a bit tense the night before, trying to inject the right amount of believability into answers on Santa’s behalf.
I guess it could be argued that Santa is real though, at least insofar as he is an inhabitant of the third world of our collective unconscious. Maybe I can keep the show on the road a bit longer if I introduce some analytical philosophy around age 9.
On the other hand, Noah, our 3 year old, was experiencing Christmas fully for the first time in all it’s chocolate-covered, present-wrapped glory. We were on the move constantly for the first few days – at home then in London on Christmas Day evening, up in Scotland with my Mum on Boxing Day. As a result he experienced three sessions of present opening in 48 hours. We are a bit worried this may have set his future expectations a bit high. At least he has been properly inducted into the commercialisation of Christmas though.
The Borders where my mum lives was looking really beautiful this year, all frost covered fields and a mist wrapped mountains, pin point sharp in the low winter sun. I was really happy just driving around making the most of the small windows of daylight to get the full aesthetic impact. We also went up to Edinburgh for a day to visit old friends and new babies and took the kids to the Winter Gardens on Princes Street. Noah and I went on the big wheel right next to Scott’s Monument and I got a fantastic view of the city and the monument itself. I have always fantasised about it being some kind of gothic spacecraft and watching it lift off into the sky.
I did pretty well out of Christmas myself and got a nice spread of presents. The gadget: an Olympus digital voice recorder. The books: The Rest is Noise and What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. The booze: a bottle of Disaronno, my favourite liqueur. I’ve yet to use the gadget or read the books but most of the booze has gone from drinking Amaretto cocktails on New Year’s Eve. Ah well, it comes but once a year.