It’s coming up to that time of the year

We expats are a strange mob. From about a month before Christmas everything is related to Christmas. Even though we are thousands of miles from home, we still take the habitual timetable of Christmas with us, as deeply, it seems, as our DNA. In our house, Lena couldn’t wait until the end of November to arrive so that she could erect, and decorate her Christmas tree. Lights, glass and gold decorations vie for attention in a prominent white and gold furbishing of our two-metre-tall tree. The lights joust with each other to the edge of meltdown, with red/blue/green/gold, and white/gold circuits competing incessantly, in the corner of our lounge. Yes. I got distracted. Lights huh. Blinking lights. Anyway, us Christians, and speaking of myself I use the term loosely, as though I believe in a greater power, I’m not certain about my devotion to any God, anywhere, who allows good people to suffer, and there can’t be so many people in the world who are bad, and there’s a fair bit of suffering going on. Anyway, I digress, again. At every turn now, almost without exception, whether Christian or not, so many people are obsessed with a Christmas countdown. “Hi, how are you this morning?” “Yeah, great, and its nearly that time of year, and I haven’t got any presents yet.” Or “Good Ray, only twelve more sleeps to go.” Or “It doesn’t really feel like Christmas yet does it? Only a few days to go and it’s not cold enough to feel Christmassy is it?” Or “Can you believe we have to work on Christmas Day? (Actually I can. We’re in a different country, society and culture mate). “You’ld think we could have ‘Crissy Day’ off wouldn’t you? (To be honest, after 9 years, I’m ambivalent. It would be nice, but for me it’s all about family. Mind you, the presents are usually fun, and the food, stunning.) “Yeah, but it’s okay.” We do have a habit of celebrating Christmas, or should I call it ‘over-celebrating,’ ‘cause that’s what most of us do. We indulge too much in so many areas, and spend the next few months paying off credit cards, working out at the gym, and having some early nights, to return to normal from the state of a close relation. Hmmm. Sidetracked again. I’m starting to think I have issues of concentration? But no, back on, what were we talking about? Mates asking if I’ll be wearing that ridiculous Santa suit again because, “It’s nearly Christmas.” Actually, I’m thinking about handing over the Santa suit due to my recent weight loss efforts. Swimming, a bit of gym, and some Lena- inspired healthy eating have done wonders for my ‘Santa belly,’ so I’m thinking of handing over to Francis, a colleague at work. Francis is a really nice guy, if a tad on the serious side, but one of the lads said to me the other day, “You can’t make Francis into a blooming Santa, that’ld be like asking Mother Teresa to dance vaudeville. Francis, I’ll tell you what, he would make a great Christmas grinch.” Oh yes. Lost my compass again. What’s going on today? It must be because were only a few days out from Christmas. Oh, and only four days after Christmas, Sasha is coming. Yay! Sasha and her partner Chris are coming for New Year. It’s only five, plus two, plus five, and they’re here. Brilliant. I can’t wait, only 12 more sleeps and our kids are here. Well they’re not kids any more, but they’re our kids. Got the presents, got the food, got the drinks, it all looks good, and it’s not long till Christmas. Ray Petersen petersen_ray@hotmail.com