I've just realised that my 3 week cut off point has been and gone and passed. Oh I hate Christmas. Only 16 more days to go and I am so behind, in spite of planning and more planning.
This time last year I was working on a book: Mitchell Muffin and The Rotten Eggs (it's on sale on my Etsy store or Amazon).
This year, I am working on the sequel, that go delayed because I decided to allow myself the distraction of writing and illustrating a couple of other books.
This is what distractions do. They delay.
Ergo Christmas is a distraction which is delaying me doing everything else that I should be getting on with.
Yesterday I got distracted by mince pies, and I still don't have any either homemade or from the shop.
Today, distractions are in the form of Christmas gifts I have not yet purchased, in spite of my idea of sorting this all out last month. Yes, last month.
Why on earth do we give gifts at Christmas? Is it just some evil ploy by retailers to prop up their failing annual sales? Oh, no that's that silly American trend of Black Friday. I can never understand why Americans call it black. That always made me think it was dark and dangerous. I suppose it might be dangerous if you got into a fight over a cheap TV or trampled on.
I digressed.
Why do we give gifts at Christmas?
In America, perhaps as a back-lash to Black Friday and the over-commercialisation of absolutely everything, there is a movement to "cancel" Christmas. However, Fox News thinks that while this is a good idea on one level, maybe it needs to be about Christmas beginning at home.
Maybe this year will see the real spirit of Christmas return, and I don't just mean those spirits from Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.
Even the Arch Bishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby wrote in the UK Radio Times and Guardian yesterday that we don't need to spend a fortune on Christmas gifts, we need to remember what Christmas is about first and foremost. It is about bringing love into our currently rather loveless and selfish world and giving rather than receiving. It is about peace and harmony. There was a Christmas Day nearly 100 years ago when the fighting stopped across the trenches and soldiers walked out, put their differences behind them, played a game of football, shook hands, sang a carol and said goodnight.
Which is why my eldest son has suggested a budget of S$50 per gift per person.
After all, it is the thought and gesture that count, not how large a hole that you have burnt in your pocket or wallet or whatever you carry your money in.
BAH HUMBUG
I'll make mince pies for everyone this Christmas.
