Every year the same debate begins around the time we put up our Christmas tree.  I’ll get to that in a minute.

Putting up the Christmas tree is a joyous family time.  The kids hang their favourite decorations up, chatting about the “little snowman” or “beautiful bells”.  They haven’t quite worked out the whole big picture of tree decoration though, so we tend to end up with large clumps of decorations about the same height as the children’s heads.  I tried spinning the tree to encourage a more evenly dispersed approach but they tended to gravitate to the clump as if the texture of plastic pine needles was an offense to their eyes that had to be covered as thoroughly as possible.  Of course the whole process took a bit longer this year as our youngest child is now old enough to pull decorations back off the tree in an attempt to eat them.  My wife and I get more laughs out of assembling the Christmas tree than the traditional TV re-run of Chevy Chase’s Christmas Vacation.

So, the argument.  Well, not really an argument, more a polite exchange of views.  Views which neither of us are likely to budge on in a hurry.  Everything goes fine every year until it is time for the tinsel.  My wife prefers big, fluffly, boofy tinsel that looks like somebody tar and feathered a boa constrictor then spray painted it gold.  I prefer thin, subtle strands.  The cheap tinsel as my wife calls it.  Not that I’m a tight wad, mind you.  I’m happy to mortgage my house to get more Christmas lights.  But big, boofy tinsel tends to overpower everything else.  It is no longer a Christmas tree, but a tinsel tree.  If you’re going to do that don’t bother about the tree, just hang a whole clump of tinsel from your roof and be done with it.  My wife, however, feels if you’re not going to have big boofy tinsel it’s barely worth the effort of a tree, as the tree’s main function is obviously to support such tinsel.  Eventually the argument discussion is settled, however, by whatever tinsel happens to be left over from last year.  Except when it is just the cheap stuff, in which case my enterprising spouse removes it once I’ve gone to work, more content with no tinsel at all than try hard whisps of silvery nastiness.

Christmas; funny as a fit, really.  I love it!

‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. That’s because everybody else was out for late night Christmas Eve shopping!

Getting ready for Christmas can be a busy time: preparing for the meals, preparing for a family holiday (the running around alone is enough to make you need one!), and of course last minute gift shopping for family and friends. No wonder 2,000 years ago at the first Christmas the angels declared “Peace on Earth”, they knew how badly we’d need it!

I have tried a couple of strategies over the years to be more organised for Christmas. One attempt a few years back was to be ultra organised and start my Christmas shopping six months earlier. I found something for everybody, wrapped everything, and stored it all in the shed ready for the end of the year. Of course, every Christmas some relative turns up you weren’t expecting, so I even bought an extra box of chocolates just in case of such an emergency. Two days before Christmas, however, I heard that a great aunt was coming. She’s allergic to nuts. The chocolate-coated hazelnut trifles I’d bought (and wrapped and stored!) were not, therefore, an adequate emergency gift, and I found myself once more at the mall again fighting off every other last-minute Christmas shopper. After returning home triumphant with some nut-free chocolate I decided to also take the rest of the presents out of storage to put under the tree. That’s right, the presents that I’d proudly organised months earlier. The presents that I had safely stored in the shed. The very same presents that were now mostly nibbled away by some form of rodent, and one of which had obviously been sitting under a water leak all winter. Despite all my best efforts Christmas Eve found me back frantically shopping once again.

The second approach I tried was to spread the stress over a shorter period of time while still attempting to avoid the chaotic last minute rush. I calculated that I needed about 17 hours of shopping and preparation time before the big day. For the month before Christmas, then, I scheduled 4 and a quarter hours for “Christmas preparation” every week. I figured this way the month was still busy, but the stress was at least spread out. The down side of this approach is that after a month of Christmas stress I was well and truly “over it”, and decided to spend Christmas Day sitting on a beach fishing instead.

So, last minute shopping it is. The night before Christmas is here, and I’m off! Lots to do, very little time to do it, but at least in battling some grandma for the last “Ben 10” figurine for my nephew I’m going to enjoy the adrenaline rush of 6 months worth of rushing getting jammed into 3 hours of action packed extreme shopping! I don’t even know who Ben 10 is, but it should be fun!

Hoping you and your family have a blessed Christmas, and that in the midst of the fun you also get time to reflect on the true meaning of this wonderful celebration.

Today is a public holiday, although I’m not sure why.  I could probably look it up, but it still wouldn’t change the fact that today is a day off work.  Well, unless you are a police officer or ambulance driver or something.  Or a service station attendant.  Actually, we took our family to the pool today and the lifeguards were working, as were the café staff and the friendly people at the entrance desk.  Come to think of it, it appeard the only people on holiday today were my family.  My wife is 8 months pregnant and not currently employed, and my kids don’t attend school yet, so actually the only person with a day off work was me.  Although, technically, I’m on school holidays anyway as I work in a school.

So, let’s start this post again.  Today is a public holiday.  Nobody has a day off, but at least it reminds us of the importance of… er… why is it holiday today?

The whole public holiday concept has irritated me for a while now.  I like the day off, but feel sorry for those who still have to work.  Before finishing university I worked for a while in a service station.  Public holidays meant double or triple pay or some such good deal, but not usually a day off.  They often meant a day off for the boss, funnily enough, because I guess he found it difficult to pay himself triple rates.  Christmas Day we all took it in turns, just doing a 2 hour shift so nobody had to miss the whole day.  Too bad if your 2 hours was while everybody else ate your turkey, though!

If you are one of the fortunate few to actually get a day off on a public holiday there is, as you will realise, a downside.  As most of the shops are shut you can’t just “pop out” to get something you need, unless of course you go to a service station where you can buy a carton of eggs for about the same price as you’d pay for an entire chicken farm.

Enough!  I have a revolutionary new idea.  Why not roster our public holidays over a few weeks.  Whatever the public holiday today, it could be stretched over the next 3 Mondays, rotating through various areas of work to ensure everybody gets a break but also ensuring there are also sufficient people staffing facilities to make the day off useful.  So today everyone who works in, say, hospitality, tourism, engineering and finance could have a day off.  Next week it could be all maintenance staff, gardiners, roadworkers, shopping centre staff and accountants.  The week after could be everybody else.  It wouldn’t be difficult to keep track of, we could just use a colour code.  All the first group could have their place of work permanently painted purple, the second group could be yellow, and the third could be blue.  Then, on our calendars, you simply state the colour who is having the week off.  You’d see “Queen’s birthday – purple”, followed by “Queens birthday – yellow” etc.

The down side could be that your other family members are stuck working in the blue group, while your job is a yellow career.  This could easily be solved by everyone always wearing a T-shirt that is the colour  of their holiday industry.  Then, when meeting a person for the first time, you can be sure to avoid getting romantically involved with anybody whose holidays don’t match your own.

Simple, yet brilliant.  Keep me in mind when next electing a prime minister, eh?