Everywhere you go. And I for one am delighted! Even though Summer is a big event in my calendar, there is no season I love more than Winter. Nature slows down for a few months. The sun goes on a well deserved holiday to the other side of the world, the animals go into hibernation, the flora takes a breather before the regeneration of Spring comes to get them, everything just takes a step back and slows down. I think its the Earth's way of saying 'Slow down, rest a while, you've had a tough year', the natural way of saying, have a break, have a Kit Kat. The dark evenings make it perfectly acceptable to go home from work and not leave again until the following morning, as if its OK to embrace your inner mammal and do some hibernating of your own.
You get some amazing weather at this time of the year too. The air is completely crisp and frosty, clear skies in the evening are displaying some beautiful moon shots, and through the light pollution in the city, you can see some of the gorgeous stars that the Milky Way has to offer. Yes its cold, but at least it's not raining (just yet) You can wear your hats again! Mine have been angry with me for not being taken out much during the last year, and have been languishing on the back of the door for some time now. So I am picking a hat a day to come on a trip from my house to the office and back again. You can wear massive woolly scarves! They too are clamouring for attention on the door, fighting off the flimsy cravats and neck ties I donned during the Summer months. It's time to bring out the big winter coats, your good coat to keep you warm. I think it makes me feel like a child again, being all wrapped up and feeling secure in big winter boots, hats, scarves and gloves, with twenty-seven different layers underneath to keep me extra cosy.
But the best thing about Winter, is that it goes hand in hand with my favourite holiday: Christmas. I. Love. Christmas. I am a total Noelphile! You can say what you want about it being over commercialised, I don't care. You can keep your issues about the decorations going up in shops too early, or the true meaning of Christmas being lost, I just don't want to know anymore. I want to stand on the hill and roar to everyone that I am at my happiest over Christmas. Yes, it is a religious festival, and working for the Catholic church as I do (don't ask, its a long story!) I am constantly reminded of where this holiday came from and the true meaning of it. But that will never stop me from being excited as a kiddy about the upcoming event.
The lights, the baubles, the tinsel, the cards, the presents, the weather, the mulled wine, the turkey dinner, the stuffing your face with Quality Streets, the terrible Christmas films, the entire Christmas buzz sends me into a tailspin of happiness. Its not just about all of the above, for me its so much more. I get to go home to my friends who I have had for years and see them and go out in my home town and get lairy drunk and do it all again the next day. I get to go back to my old room in my home house and spend the week with my family, annoying parents, talking the dog up the mountain, eating my brothers crisps by mistake, making turkey sandwiches for breakfast, have my mother call me to get up at 3pm in the day. Its a time where is perfectly acceptable to have a drink before lunch time. A time to get crap presents and give crap presents, but also to receive some excellent stashes of things you really wanted. Its a time, without going too cheesey, for being together with people that you don't get to see all the time. Its a time for acting the eejit, and a time for fun.
I throw myself wholeheartedly into Christmas celebrations. I have my Santa hat complete with pigtails that I like to wear around the house. I like singing Feed the World in late November. I love to do an air guitar solo to Wish it could be Christmas Everyday. It's never too early to roll out mulled wine, mince pies (even though I don't actually like them) and Bailey's Coffees, nor is it ever too early to hear Christmas pop tunes in the supermarket.
I know it can be a stressful time for all involved, but when the arguments with your sister have ceased, and you are all concentrating on how to moisten your turkey around the dinner table, and your mum has just quaffed her fourth Pinot Grigio, and you are surreptitiously moving the bottle of Jameson away from your dad and pushing a G n' T into his hand as whiskey doesn't really agree with him and in turn he doesn't agree with you when you mention it, and your uncle that no one invited shows up unannounced, and your brother is no longer talking to anyone as all he wants to do is watch The Wire on the box set that you bought him, take stock of what you have and let the lovely gooey Christmassy warmth spread over you. Enjoy it! And if you cannot stomach it all, then here's a tip not just for Christmas, but for life.: keep your "pint of water" discreetly topped up with Russian Standard and some white lemonade.
Here;s to Jingle Bells and two day old Turkey Sandwiches.
You get some amazing weather at this time of the year too. The air is completely crisp and frosty, clear skies in the evening are displaying some beautiful moon shots, and through the light pollution in the city, you can see some of the gorgeous stars that the Milky Way has to offer. Yes its cold, but at least it's not raining (just yet) You can wear your hats again! Mine have been angry with me for not being taken out much during the last year, and have been languishing on the back of the door for some time now. So I am picking a hat a day to come on a trip from my house to the office and back again. You can wear massive woolly scarves! They too are clamouring for attention on the door, fighting off the flimsy cravats and neck ties I donned during the Summer months. It's time to bring out the big winter coats, your good coat to keep you warm. I think it makes me feel like a child again, being all wrapped up and feeling secure in big winter boots, hats, scarves and gloves, with twenty-seven different layers underneath to keep me extra cosy.
But the best thing about Winter, is that it goes hand in hand with my favourite holiday: Christmas. I. Love. Christmas. I am a total Noelphile! You can say what you want about it being over commercialised, I don't care. You can keep your issues about the decorations going up in shops too early, or the true meaning of Christmas being lost, I just don't want to know anymore. I want to stand on the hill and roar to everyone that I am at my happiest over Christmas. Yes, it is a religious festival, and working for the Catholic church as I do (don't ask, its a long story!) I am constantly reminded of where this holiday came from and the true meaning of it. But that will never stop me from being excited as a kiddy about the upcoming event.
The lights, the baubles, the tinsel, the cards, the presents, the weather, the mulled wine, the turkey dinner, the stuffing your face with Quality Streets, the terrible Christmas films, the entire Christmas buzz sends me into a tailspin of happiness. Its not just about all of the above, for me its so much more. I get to go home to my friends who I have had for years and see them and go out in my home town and get lairy drunk and do it all again the next day. I get to go back to my old room in my home house and spend the week with my family, annoying parents, talking the dog up the mountain, eating my brothers crisps by mistake, making turkey sandwiches for breakfast, have my mother call me to get up at 3pm in the day. Its a time where is perfectly acceptable to have a drink before lunch time. A time to get crap presents and give crap presents, but also to receive some excellent stashes of things you really wanted. Its a time, without going too cheesey, for being together with people that you don't get to see all the time. Its a time for acting the eejit, and a time for fun.
I throw myself wholeheartedly into Christmas celebrations. I have my Santa hat complete with pigtails that I like to wear around the house. I like singing Feed the World in late November. I love to do an air guitar solo to Wish it could be Christmas Everyday. It's never too early to roll out mulled wine, mince pies (even though I don't actually like them) and Bailey's Coffees, nor is it ever too early to hear Christmas pop tunes in the supermarket.
I know it can be a stressful time for all involved, but when the arguments with your sister have ceased, and you are all concentrating on how to moisten your turkey around the dinner table, and your mum has just quaffed her fourth Pinot Grigio, and you are surreptitiously moving the bottle of Jameson away from your dad and pushing a G n' T into his hand as whiskey doesn't really agree with him and in turn he doesn't agree with you when you mention it, and your uncle that no one invited shows up unannounced, and your brother is no longer talking to anyone as all he wants to do is watch The Wire on the box set that you bought him, take stock of what you have and let the lovely gooey Christmassy warmth spread over you. Enjoy it! And if you cannot stomach it all, then here's a tip not just for Christmas, but for life.: keep your "pint of water" discreetly topped up with Russian Standard and some white lemonade.
Here;s to Jingle Bells and two day old Turkey Sandwiches.
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