Hello viewers.
It has come to my attention, over the last few years, that I have lost something. Something special, something treasured and something, dare I say it? Magical. I think I first noticed its demise in my teenage years and as my teens were such a long time ago, I'm not sure that I will ever find it again.
What on earth I am wittering on about I here you cry?
I am talking about that magical internal flutter you get when Christmas comes around. The childlike excitement of not knowing the contents of a carefully wrapped present. That dizzying spin as you survey the sideboard and the coffee table groaning under the weight of nuts, fruit and chocolate. The ruddy glow as you come in from the crisp winter cold, to be met by twinkling fairy lights, tinsel and baubles.
These things still happen, but they seem to have lost that innocence of youth, the sparkle of enthusiasm and that real feeling of Christmas magic.
Now don't get me wrong, I love Christmas, it is my most favourite time of year. Family and friends united as one, to bring festive cheer and to argue over the remote control. However, as an adult with a family you end up hosting Christmas and spend more time making Christmas, than actually feeling Christmassy. Is the turkey on? When do the spuds go in? Can you get auntie a sherry? Where's nanny's present? Have I missed Noel Edmonds? When you finally get chance to sit down, there's only a moment to sip a Baileys and scoff a mince pie, whilst watching the last part of one of the Vicar of Dibley Christmas specials, once again being repeated, before you're up again and making turkey sandwiches.
Which is fine, that's OK. These things are intrinsically linked to Christmas now in adult life. You have friends and family round and you do feel special, giving gifts and filling their hearts with Christmas cheer and their bellies with the duty free gin you bought on the way back from your summer holidays.
What I'm missing is those moments that genuinely make you jump up and down with excitement, that uncontrollable feeling that you will explode with joy. Those moments after the wrapping paper has been torn off in a festive fury and you reach the bundles of joy below. Exciting gifts, amazing toys, games to keep you occupied for hours, or the latest annual from your favourite television show. For me that was the Blue Peter annual. It was the Action Man toys; the helicopter, the amoured car, the hangglider, the parachute. What a great few years they were, their memories still implanted deep in my psyche.
Sadly those days are long gone. Nowadays it is practical gifts, books, DVDs and aftershave or worse still; socks!
I do try to keep the Christmas spirit high. I will always read Charles Dicken's 1843 classic A Christmas Carol, I will always watch at least one of the film versions of A Christmas Carol and we will always watch Christmas films. I insist on going to church for the Sunday carol service followed by mulled wine and mince pies. And I will always put up the Christmas decorations sufficiently early to ensure we get the most pleasure from them. I do try to replicate the Christmases of years ago.
However, even doing all these things, I find myself still missing that wonderful magical innocence from my youth, you know the feeling deep inside of excitement, joy and apprehension.
Is it just me?
I guess it isn't, but I also guess that this is a part of adult life, your head is full of other worries, those constant day-to-day things that you need to worry about; where will everyone sleep? Who is visiting who and when? Can I have a drink or do I need to drive? When do we go food shopping? Have we got enough of everything? Have we forgotten something?
I surmise that the times of innocence have flown and the only way to get them back would to fabricate a Christmas in a hotel, where all the day-to-day worries would be taken care of, but could you capture that sparkling magic again, I don't know. What I do know is, I will keep trying year on year to replicate the magic of Christmas for my family and those around me and see if I can hit upon a formula to recalculate the magic and ensure that the message of Christmas, its foundation and origin is promoted and how its organic growth over the years is continued to be nurtured so that future generations can enjoy that special childlike innocence that I remember from all those years ago.
It only leaves me to wish a very Merry Christmas to you all and hope that the magic of the season brings a little cheer into your heart.
