This would not normally be surprising, but as a "nice" Jewish boy it obviously has no religious significance whatsoever but throughout my life we've just never done Hanukkah (for the uninitiated it's the "Festival of Lights" and normally occurs about the same time of year).
One of my fondest childhood memories was my Grandpa dressing up as Santa and having a massive sack full of goodies for distribution. My only slight regret was that being the eldest I had a good couple of years of being spoilt rotten until various other Rug Rats started to appear and the spoils had to be shared.
There has always been a tree and decorations and although I hate how early the preamble starts I have always enjoyed the whole seasonal thing.
Of course, with parenthood the traditions continued and however clicheed it may be there just isn't anything better than the pleasure derived from seeing the look on one's kids' faces after tearing the guts out of the wrapping paper and discovering they got exactly what they wanted. In fact, if I remember correctly I was always up before either of the kids. One year I had to wake my daughter up at about 7 am 'cos the little darling wouldn't budge.
It wasn't all about the children. I must be one of the few men that actually enjoys shopping and hunting for the perfect pressies for the "significant other" has always been a lot of fun. Even if it meant standing five deep in the "cheap"section of Tiffany's along with every other "metro sexual" in London.
This year, to quote "the teenager" I'm just not feelin' it
It has nothing to do with the economy or even that it just doesn't seem particularly Christmassy out there. This year it appears that "adult child" will be abroad for the festivities, "the teenager" is at the stage where the presents are great but she's way too cool to get excited about the general proceedings and for the first time in my entire adult life I'm not married to, living with or dating anyone.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not actually miserable about being "tout seul", it's more a case of being aware of how few people are around if you are not a "normal" family unit. Sadly, my younger brother passed away a few years ago. His kids are now grown up and have their own lives. My parents are also long gone and neither of my kids are gonna procreate any time soon.
So, the tree is up. Gifts are underneath. There will be turkey and all the trimmings (damn good job I can cook), "the teenager" and I will work our way through a box of crackers and I'll still refuse to wear the dumb hat but this year it's all going to be very, very low key.
I know there are so many people that would give their right arm to have what we will have and before I get severely criticised, I know it's not really "my" festival anyway. I'm just articulating my thoughts - that's all!
For all I know, by this time next year I might've met an adorable woman with four noisy kids, a full set of parents, and numerous annoying relatives and half way through the Queen's speech I'll be pining back to the halcyon day of Xmas 2008.
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