Who needs plastic reindeers....

So as I start hitting the shops at night (mainly because this seems to be the best time as its so cold out most sensible warm blooded people are already curled up on their couches with hot coco) I  feverishly scour the heavily laden shelves for that perfect present. I desperately look at everything, because I want to give something thoughtful and unique and my promise to myself that I’m going to make every one I know, something cool next year, fly’s out of the window because its already December… eek.

 After hours of this and when my blood sugar is dangerously low, the panic has started to slowly creep its way up and I start grabbing at anything shiny. I suddenly wonder what an earth I’m doing. Why is there a compulsion to spend ridiculous amounts of money on lets face it, things nobody really needs…..ok so maybe I really did need that pizza stone my mum got me…how would I cook pizza otherwise?…oh and maybe without that drill set a few years ago, I wouldn’t have been able to put up those shelves…but most of it…most of it is just extra clutter in our lives that we just don’t need!

Catalogues then start arriving in droves, the postman can barely fit them into our mailboxes and small woodland creatures have started to gather outside the windows looking for shelter as most of their forest homes, have ended up in our recycling bins. Its Christmas madness I tell you!!!

Wouldn’t it be far better to get an experience as a gift instead, you know like those ‘sky dive lessons’ or ‘spend a day grooming monkeys’. Or how about a big red shiny brochure to Long Lake wrapped under that tree, with a golden ticket saying ‘admit one’ …holy Christmas cake… a million experiences all in one go, what could be better.

 Now please don’t get me wrong… I love the sound the paper makes as you rip it open on Christmas morning, and the anticipation of hidden surprises….but actually I think a wrapped up adventure sounds much more exciting and less environmentally destructive as I guiltily look at the crumpled tinselly explosion under the tree after everything’s been unwrapped.

However……

Saying all of this….

Surely the joy of Christmas at the end of the day, should be about being alive and spending quality time with the ones you cherish, rather than wondering if you’ll get something useful this year, that you won’t have to return. A time to be kind to others, appreciate what we already have in our lives and worry less about what to buy people to let them know how much we love and appreciate them…when all you really have to do is tell them or show them , just by being there.

 So lets just take a step back shall we, breathe in the peppermint, take a whiff of the cranberries and kiss the ones you love…with or without the mistletoe, because really how many singing Santa’s and inflatable reindeers does one person need.