It is hard to believe there are just 6 days until Christmas. I never feel it anymore. For the agoraphobic shut away from the hordes of shoppers frantically rushing about for last minute gifts Christmas is far away. As are the sounds of Slade, Roy Wood, Mariah Carey and the like that play through the shopping aisles as you push your trolley through the mass of bodies or drunkenly dance with your tie in your back pocket at the office disco. The one indoors is far removed from the spirit of the festive season. Instead, if they are like me, they spend hours online searching for gifts and then waiting patiently for the door to be knocked with their arrival.
This year though I am feeling it more than usual. The weather has played its part for once. Once the past day or so we have had snow. Not a lot but enough to paint the town white and blind us with a brilliant reflection of the low winter sun in all directions. There are footsteps carved in the ground of not only the denizens but dogs, cats and even birds- a new game of foot spotting has resulted on the walks with the kids. It is cold beneath blue sky but there is nothing like wrapping up to go out with the promise of a hot drink or soup on your return.
Equally at night the lights add to the occasion. I'm not used to being out in the car at this time of year so had forgotten what it was like. There seems to be more illuminated houses than I remember. Most are subtle but there are a good few extreme cases which are dazzling. The kids love looking out for them and I feel like a big kid to seeing these things for the first time. And when you see the usual arrays of Santa, reindeer, snowmen and the rest it does add to the effect when the surrounds are peppered with the white of winter.
Last night we drove to Rutherglen which the kids enjoyed. From here to there we pass through the main streets of a number of little towns like my own, Halfway and Cambuslang who all have their own assortment of Christmas lights lining the central road and Christmas trees scattered along the way. Some were better than others with our own town's lighting falling well short of the mark. Without stopping we passed by my wife's aunt's house as a dry run. Next week we will go again and drop off presents. It used to be her gran's house until she died and my wife takes the kids a lot there in the summer as she has a big garden. Afterwards we worked out that the last time I was there was Christmas 2005 when we picked up her aunt to take her to Perth on Christmas Eve with a just a 2 year old girl and little 6 month baby girl in tow. Back then Christmas felt like something special and maybe that feeling is returning. As much as I don't enjoy the company of others I do enjoy the occasion with the present opening, meal, walks down the park and other festivities.
This Christmas for the fourth year in a row though I will be spending it alone. I insist that the kids are in their own beds on Christmas eve so that I am up early to see them awake and then open their presents. After that they will get ready and my wife will whisk them up north for a few days. Maybe that is why I have lost the feeling of Christmas for so long. Up until this year it has been a brief passing moment of a few hours on Christmas day before returning to solitude. This time it has lasted longer and I can only hope that this time next year it is longer still. Maybe I might get in the car to and head up to wonderland with the family.
