Twelve more days?
What only twelve? Where did the other 13 go? Where did my resolve of being organised and ordering a cooked bird this year go? Or maybe we should try roasted penguin instead, it is an option.
Oh, this is why this time of the year is such a bah humbug. The effort you need to be nice to everyone when all you want to do is sit in a corner and finish reading Bram Stoker's Dracula. However, come to think of it, Dracula had a way with people.
On the tenuous association of Count Dracula and Christmas (see how I manoeuvered into that?), I wonder, did Dracula, or Vlad as he is so evocatively named, did he celebrate Christmas? And, if so how? Did he continue impaling people, or did he get intoxicated and a rush of high blood sugar from his over-indulgent victims?
I often wonder what it would be like to have a conversation with an historic figure, a fictional character, or even a professor or author about then and now. That is the downside of mortality. How fascinating the idea of immortality and the discourses one might have. (Gosh, now I sound like something out of Charles Dickens).
Imagine, reading something really interesting, and thinking, "I'd like to know more about that". And, then, being able to converse with the creator. On the downside, it might lead to disappointment when you realise that your interpretation is no where near what the author originally intended. Thereby creating work and conjecture for such eminent philosophers of literature, such as Wolfgang Iser.
Wolfgang Iser has no direct correlation (how can you tell I am working on a research project?), with Christmas, past, present or future, (except that he probably celebrated Christmas in the past, and if he were a ghost, he would create another tenuous link to Dickens and therefore to literature).
Nevertheless, Dr Iser, with his philosophy of reception aesthetics ought to be considered for a moment in relation to Christmas. Literature is the creation of the relationship between the author and the reader and their interpretation.
Therefore, Christmas too, might be considered as the individual interpretation of the relationship between the Pagan roots, the Winter solstice, the Roman tradition of decorating doors and houses in green for celebration, the Norse legends of Odin, the Dutch myths of Sinter Klass, the Christian celebration of the birth of Christ, a time for families and friends to reunite and celebrate a year past, a myriad of other traditions, myths and legends from around the world, and the advent of mass commercialisation.
Christmas ought not to be what we are told it is on the television, advertising posters, social media, and whoever else has a vested interest.
Christmas is what we make of it, it our own unique and individual interpretation of a couple of thousand years of tradition, culture and religious respect.
And, finally, to lighten things up, another installment of ...
DOWN THE CHIMNEY ©
‘Oh Dad,’ said Mum, ‘don’t take the mick,
That can’t be old St Nick,
That chimney’s such a boring chore,
He’ll come in by the door.’
I didn’t care where Santa was,
The why’s or where’s, because
All I wanted were my toys,
Instead of chimney noise.
Bah Humbug, "God Bless us all," said Tiny Tim - and that's my interpretation!
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