Tis the Season to be Jolly

Ahh...the shops are a-glistening with fairy lights and holly wreaths, the malls are filled with the raucous pulse of Christmas chants about jingling bells, as we count down towards the silent night when all is calm and all is bright. Yup, it's the season of giving, and thanking and remembering, and getting rid of one bad year before heading into the next. Did that come out slightly sarcastic? Do I sound like a Christmas grouch? Well, yeah, I'm the first to admit that Christmas sure doesn't make my insides all warm and mushy, any more than Valentine's Day.

Maybe it's just me, but the whole season seems to have lost its appeal. What happened to giving? My wanking-lecturer certainly isn't in the Christmas spirit this year, and neither does it seem, is anyone else who has walked into A&R or called up LAWA. The lead up to Christmas isn't filled with smiling children on their best behavior for Santa.

Instead we have screaming kids who have had enough of shopping, distraught parents who are rethinking their decision to have children, lonely singles without family wondering how to spend their night without having to deal with the hangover, but still drinking themselves silly, and worst the increase in divorce, separation and child-stealing.

Yup, you heard the last part right - now more than ever, one parent is more likely to take their child and make a runner, because the other parent is refusing to let them have visitation during the Christmas break.

How then am I supposed to maintain a positive outlook on a season that is celebrated not by people wanting to give and 'spread the love' (in a totally non-sexual sense) but by selfish, self-absorbed adults who have taken away the spirit of Christmas, and have left an empty shell of a holiday that focuses on the best and most expensive gift rather than a message of peace and love, family, hope and joy.

Mood? Slightly disillusioned, more than ready to get blind drunk, and happily heading there right now...(well, tonight anyway...)