There was a point in December (I think it was the second week of December) when the requests from school started coming thick and fast. Learning lines for the school play, costume for the school play, wear something festive (the boundaries of this request weren’t specified), wear your own clothes and bring a bottle, wear your own clothes and bring chocolate, bring in a jar full of sweets, choose whether your child wants a Christmas dinner, volunteer to help at the Christmas fair, make / buy cakes for the fair, volunteer to wrap presents, bring food items for the homeless in return for Lego, send money to donate for charity, come to the carol service.
Every single one of these requests was fun and Christmasy and inclusive, but taken as a whole they were overwhelming. When they came back to school they had to dress up almost straight away and it took me by surprise, in my post-Christmas haze, and almost sent me into a panic. Of course, the requests from school weren’t the only Christmas pressures – there were all the usual ones too – presents, food, family, travel, tree, decorations, and money to pay for it.
It felt as thought planning Christmas (not Christmas day itself, Christmas generally) took over my life for a month. This makes me think of two things. Firstly, is there a way to stop myself getting sucked into the Christmas vortex, or do I just go with it? Secondly, what if I could plan the rest of my life the way I planned Christmas? I don’t mean decorating with tinsel all year round, I mean with the same sense of necessity. Also: I want to go on holiday and stay in a hotel next year. I wonder if I’ll manage it.