The Scrooge Epidemic

Is it me or has no-one felt particularly festive this year? The majority of people I’ve spoken to have told me how this year, they’ve felt less Christmassy than ever before. WHY?!

True I was one of these depressingly unexcited people…up until 9pm Christmas Eve when it finally sunk in…

Was it the weather? Rain does make everyone’s moods worse its true, and it’s hardly very festive. Is it the financial climate? No one has been particularly looking forward to the expense of Christmas, this year more than ever! Or is it simply because we’re all that one year older?

But that’s the thing isn't it? When you’re a kid, Christmas is all about the anticipation of Santa coming, presents to play with and too much chocolate to nibble on. When you get older, the realisation that Christmas is an expensive, stressful, bloated time of year finally sinks in. But actually, I beg to differ. I refuse to turn into a modern day Ebenezer Scrooge so here’s 3 lessons to remember about Christmas:

1)      The most successful present I gave this year was a sentimental one.
Lesson: You don’t need to spend half your inheritance to make people happy.

2)      Things usually work out even when you do forget to seal the envelopes down, or the Sellotape doesn't stick properly or the turkey gets freezer burn.
 Lesson: There’s no point in getting stressed about things you can’t change – especially when they often can resolve themselves.

3)      Just because there is a temptation to buy everything in the festive aisle of the supermarket doesn't actually mean you have to eat it all within 24 hours. Unless you’re going for a ‘Man VS Food’ style Christmas…
Lesson: You don’t need to be bloated every year on the 25^th December and declare, rather angrily, by 8pm that you will never, never be eating again.

Finally, let me remind all you Scrooges out there that, yes, it’s unlikely you are feeling particularly festive on a wet winters day when you still have wrapping to do. But that doesn't mean that Christmas can’t be something to look forward to. Take it with a pinch of salt; it is only one day after all. So remember the words of a great man, Mr Charles Dickens, and think of the true spirit of Christmas.

Now go and eat a mince pie and cheer the hell up – you’re giving Scrooge a run for his money…