It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Don’t get me wrong, I like Christmas. I really do. I have some great memories of the various festive periods of my childhood. I love the music, I love seeing my mates, there’s plenty I look forward to. There are just a couple of aspects I don’t care for.

For example, I hate Christmas shopping. I know pretty much everyone on the planet does. I imagine some people like it though, people who like queuing or maybe people who like bumping into other people but I most certainly don’t. I hate Christmas shopping on many levels. The main reason I don’t like it is because it makes me feel guilty. I know it sounds strange but when I’m standing in a shop absolutely clueless of what to buy a loved one I begin to realise how little I know about them. I feel guilty for not paying attention, for not listening out for clues or hints. I suppose that’s where gift vouchers come into play.

I hate food shopping at Christmas. Supermarket aisles full of people loading their baskets to the brim with food they’ll never eat. Come on everybody let’s not lose focus. Its one bloody day where you’ll have a roast dinner and a few drinks…we’re not preparing for the apocalypse.

Another thing that stinks about Christmas is that it’s the time of year I always seem to bump into the people I don’t like. I, like a lot of people my age, head back to my hometown for Christmas. I’ll go out on Christmas Eve to the old haunts of my youth and it’ll be then more often than not that I’ll walk into one of them. Maybe it’ll be the fat bully from school or perhaps the bloke I didn’t get on with at that place I once worked. They’ll stand there gurning at me like the ghosts of bloody Christmas past. Like some rubbish episode of ‘This is your life’.

But like I said, I really do like Christmas…honest. Merry Christmas!