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All I want is a simpler style of Christmas

by

Allison Pearson

[Daily Mail-Wednesday, December 19, 2007}

WHEN I was a little girl in the sixties, Christmas was a simple but magical time. You woke while it was still dark and there was  the ever-new yet unchallenging thrill of sensing that lumpy weight at the end of the bed.

The stocking probably didn't contain much -a pack of felt pens, an annual, maybe some bubble bath and satsuma in the toe. My sister and I particularly loved our Cadbury's selection boxes. Adult life may offer more sophisticated pleasures, but not much can beat the taste of Dairy Milk at 5.40am on Christmas morning.

Downstairs, there was a big present from Father Christmas and parcels under the tree from relatives. later there would be pimply turkey with awful sprouts, a bottle of Harvey's Cream for the grown ups and a tin of Quality Street.

The toffees were a godsend. they could bond together the dentures of even the most opinionated auntie. If you timed it right , it meant you could watch the Top Of The Pops special with the shouts of :

'This isn't music'

By far the most exotic foodstuff on offer was a box of dates, Hairy and sticky, eating them like biting into a gnu covered in treacle. Back then, no one had heard of smoked salmon starter. Or champagne for Christmas breakfast, which is how 65 per cent of Britons say they will begin their day this year. If you'd asked anyone to guess who Kelly Bronze was, they'd have said a stripper, not a must-have breed of turkey. 

Magazines didn't carry lists of the Top 50 presents for Men. men got socks, not paragliding lessons. Women didn't feel like a failure if their mantelpiece didn't look like a recreation of the Winter Olympics, complete with cinnamon-imbued pine cones. Children did not ask Santa for stocking 'fillers' that cost half their father's weekly wage.

Over the past 40 years, things changed. Christmas became a competition. It was like the arms race: both sides kept buying bigger and better. It was ruinous and expensive; mutually assured credit-card destruction.

BUT NO ONE KNEW HOW TO STOP IT.

Parents work  too hard. They feel guilty that they aren't maround enough for their kids. So, come December, we throw money at the problem. But money turns out to be the new problem, as Christmas inflation takes hold. These days,

 'the hopes and fears of all the years'

has less to do with a

little town in Bethlehem

than a nasty letter from VISA.

A shocking four million families are still paying off their debts from last Christmas. Hardly a recipe for festive cheer.

A friend told me she finally had enough last year. Her parents- in- law turned up with a stocking full of goodies. It was from their spaniel to her family's terrier. She actually felt embarrassed because she didn't have a reciprocal pressie under the tree for the mutt-in-law. Then she felt annoyed.

WHEN DOGS START GIVING EACH OTHER GIFTS, WE KNOW WE REALLY ARE BARKING.

In his beautiful poem on

CHURCH GOING

Philip Larkin wrote that that:

'someone will forever be surprising

A hunger in himself to be more serious'.

THIS CHRISTMAS

I think people are increasing surprising a hunger in themselves to be simpler and more joyful. we are sick of seeing little girls cast as the Singing Barbie in their so-called

NATIVITY PLAY

Can someone please remind me exactly what part Barbie played the

BIRTH OF CHRIST?

We want the competition to die down and for the

TRUE MEANING

of the

FESTIVAL

TO BE RESTORED.

This weekend, all across the country, millions of people will embark on the pilgrimage home. We need to calm down, close our wallets, sing a carol and just wait, as children wait breathlessly.

THE SIMPLE MAGIC OF CHRISTMAS

is still

THERE FOR THE ASKING.

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['God rest you, merry gentlemen

Let nothing you dismay;

Remember Christ our Saviour

Who was born on Christmas Day'

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Heap on more wood! the wind is chill;

But let it whistle as it will.

We'll keep our Christmas merry still

England was merry England, when

Old Christmas brought his sports again

(Sir Walter Scott)

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This Christmas as with all past Christmases there will be the elderly and others lonely in their homes at Christmas. A greeting and a card and even an invitation to join the true meaning of Christmas is yours as the spirit of Christmas is sharing the joy of Christmas as depicted in the works of Charles Dickins.

'God Bless everyone!'

said Tiny Tim the last of all.

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Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen six, result

HAPPINESS

Annual income twenty pounds annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result

MISERY

(Mr Micawber) David Copperfield

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[Font Altered-Bolding & Underlining Used-Comments in Brackets]

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THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN-IS THE EU COMMISSION LISTENING? * Ditch the EU TREATY after IRISH REJECTION SAY VOTERS by Daniel Martin Political Reporter [Daily Mail-Wednesday, June 18,2008] MORE THAN HALF of voters believe Britain should drop the controversial European Treaty in the wake of its rejection in last week's IRISH REFERENDUM' The poll comes as the Tories launch a last-ditch bid in the HOUSE of LORDS today to delay the RATIFICATION OF THE TREATY. And 10,000 people have signed a PETITION on the DOWNING STREET- WEBSITE within the past few days JUNE16-2008 , calling on the GOVERNMENT NOT TO RATIFY THE BILL [WHY DON'T YOU?]   Downing Street website is http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Abandon-Lisbon/ * JUNE 18-2008

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