'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas' from the film 'Meet Me in St Louis' is one of the songs I hate most to hear in Christmas shops. It's such a sad song. Why on earth would that ever be popular? Judy Garland I suppose. I don't 'do' Christmas music any more because music is very evocative and I don't like nostalgia. It serves very little purpose to cry over a piece of music. It butters no parsnips; though buttered parsnips are overrated too. There are many more genuine reasons to cry. You only have to look at the News! This year I have been spared the music because I am not going to the shops and I don't have any of these tunes at home. This seems a great idea which I may make a new Christmas Tradition!
But there have always been things I loathe about Christmas. Our house was always filled with extended family on Christmas Day. I used to find that stressful. Turkey makes me ill. They always said I'd eaten too many sweets and I knew I hadn't but on Boxing Day I was always ill and when I left home and stopped eating turkey, I found out the real reason. The gifts were so numerous that one Christmas we had to go through the bins looking for something that had accidentally been discarded with the wrapping paper. With hindsight, all the waste of Christmasses past seems disgraceful. Most of the stuff will have ended up in landfill by now, waiting for the future to find it and curse us for out neglect.
Why do we always put so much pressure on just one day that we wreck any chance it has of fulfilling our expectations? I don't like any 'special occasion'. I like to keep life on an even keel if I can. That way, I can enjoy my pork and apple sauce, roasted parsnips and my Gewurtramminer in peace.
HAVE YOURSELF A TAWDRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS
Disappointment
when
the bright, shiny wrappers
fall to the floor
like a bride
underneath all that dress
same old skin
the turkey
de-fleshed, devoid of stuffing
dirty dinner plates
same old
bone
the cracker pulled
same old jokes
paper
hat that never fits
tinsel and glitz
tat that looks so drab
on boxing day
TV ads for next year’s holidays
the next
big fix
the next the next the next
crunch
crisis
before the champagne pops
and flattens.
Give us some
credit.
We’re not completely dim.
The stars are all
in
Heaven and Hollywood.
This tawdry little show will win
no
Oscars and year on year I see
a little more magic
disappear.
Oonah V Joslin
