The Goose is Getting Fat

Ok, you may now officially start getting excited for Christmas. Congratulations on not getting carried away by the Halifax Christmas Parade of November 18th or Sony releasing their PS3's the previous week and encouraging a mass scrum to avoid disappointment six and a half weeks later. I know it's hard to ignore the overwhelming commercialisation at this time of year but it's worth it when you realise what can be realised around now.

See I've just finished 'watching' National Lanpoon's Christmas Vacation with Dan and Laura. For watching, really see reading wikipedia and not really paying attention. However, the reason I joined my roommates (plural) was that Laura told me it was the ultimate Christmas movie and Dan was outraged I'd never seen it or heard of it either. So I needed to investigate, being a Christmassy person at heart and there was some particular line near the end of the film which really hit home. I can't remember exactly what it was but something about looking at a light in the sky representing your own interpretation of Christmas, which certainly meant something to me.

Now ignoring all the fitness dvds, traditional board games that are now available with Star Wars playing pieces and greatest hits cds which invade from mid November, I have some extremely strong memories of Christmas that remind me of happy holidays of years gone by.

Tonight saw the annual award of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, an event that began in the 1950's. Now not only is this one of my favourite shows of the calendar, a programme I anticipate for fully twleve months each year and always dream to be a part of, but it always coincided with other regular traditions in my family. Every year when I was growing up, we'd all drive to my Grandma and Grandad's house to go get our Christmas tree. Every year, we'd go to the same forest close to their home, pick the tree, fit it onto the roof rack and guard it as if it were the crown jewels themselves. In fact when us kids were little, the tree would be stuffed inside the car as well which my brother and I used to love, just to smell it!!! And then we'd have a huge meal with our Grandparents before getting the tree home to decorate it that evening. And, to start consecutive sentences with the word and, that evening would always be the evening the Sports Personality of the Year show was on. It was planned that way, so we could stay up and watch the awards whilst decorating for Christmas and every single year the awards are on and the same, fantastic theme tune is played, I can't help but think about being a kid at Christmas again and how exciting it was.

Therefore, I will continue to act as juvenile and immature as possible, to try and keep hold of that childnishness (word?) inside me. I know how incredible Australia was last Christmas and I'm aching to return and I know how beautiful Nova Scotia looks covered in snow, just like a Christmas card, but I'll tell you, I'm so looking forward to collapsing on my parents' sofa with the tree lights on, watching Celebrity Who Wants to be a Millionaire and The Spy Who Loved Me. I don't watch ET, it's good but not worth watching again. That's my interpretation of Christmas, being home.

And for the record, National Lanpoon is not the ultimate Christmas movie, that honour goes to Santa Claus the Movie and as far as I'm concerned, always will.