Picture from Stress Free Shopping

Having avoided the Christmas light switch on in the Market Square and managing to swerve anything Christmas related so far (apart from the films, I do like the films), I somehow agreed to meet Mandi after work to partake in some late night Christmas shopping. Why I thought this was a good idea I don't know but I am now none the wiser regarding what I want to buy for anyone. There was a time back when I wholeheartedly embraced Christmas and shopping was part of the fun. I used to plan out what I wanted to get for each person and get everything with time to relax and be pleased with myself at how organised I was. I wish I knew what happened, I wish that I could get excited about Christmas like I used to but I just can't be doing with it anymore and would quite happily let the day pass by with no fanfare. Late night Christmas shopping does nothing to change my mind on this as it would appear to me that Christmas shopping isn't a pleasurable experience for anyone. Everywhere you look everybody looks thoroughly cheesed off. Could this be why Christmas seems to be suffering from a decline? I know it isn't just me that's bored with the whole thing, Christmas just doesn't feel the same as it used to and I think that applies to children too. Last year we were walking back from Boxing Day lunch and I was wearing a Christmas jumper, a group of kids told me that it wasn't Christmas anymore. If we have started to build up to Christmas since the summer to have it basically boil down to one day before it's all over then that's very sad. When I was a kid Christmas lasted the duration and the shops were shut until the day after Boxing Day so if you ran out of anything you were reliant on your neighbours. To be fair my best Christmas memories take place when I lived in the countryside so maybe there have always been 24 hour shops and garages open all through Christmas. I've never read too deeply into it before, but I hate the countryside too so why was I so happy as a child and not now? Perhaps I need to move to the country and buy a Santa hat?

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