Tête à Tête: Christmas Special

Father Christmas – Sian Elvin

You’re literally snowed under with work. Life seems endless and hopeless. But you see one glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. Christmas! I honestly can’t understand why anyone wouldn’t enjoy Christmas.

Firstly, it is simply a massive excuse for families to get together and celebrate; those you see but once a year. Some cynics may be sick of Christmas as they can no longer be bothered to make an effort for people, but actually they are forgetting about the next generation. Children need the magic of Santa and his reindeer in their lives, not only to give them great memories, but also to give them a valuable life lesson when their Santa Claus ‘dies’.

When I look back over my childhood, some of my favourite memories are definitely of Christmas, from hanging up my stocking to leaving Santa a mince pie and healthy glass of port (my dad dismissing the milk, saying Santa would be bored of it by the time he reached our house – funny that), to waking up with that enchanted, magical feeling.

What particularly interests me about Christmas is how different cultures choose to celebrate it. For example, German tradition encourages children to leave their shoes outside their door in early December for Santa to leave tiny gifts such as sweets.

On a more practical level, of course, Christmas is compulsory for the success of our economy. The majority of the UK population’s money is spent at this time of year. Even in difficult economic times, people want to dig into their pockets to get their friends and family presents.

Ultimately though, Christmas is a time to celebrate, and show your friends and family how much you appreciate them.
The spirit of Christmas has been strong even in tough times: the 1914 Christmas day truce, for example, when German and British troops played football together and sang songs. If Christmas isn’t a good enough excuse to celebrate, then what is?

The Grinch – Daniel Cope

Of course the ‘magic’ and excitement of Christmas is going to dwindle as we get older. We no longer ‘believe’ and most of us are no longer enthralled by the latest video game, Barbie doll or any other exciting toys we used to have as a child.

But that doesn’t mean Christmas can’t still be enjoyable…Right? Well, yes it can – if you don’t own a television that is. Television adverts turn our attention towards the festive season, at the latest, by the beginning of October. Although we live in a consumerist society and I accept retailers have to advertise products for those early-bird Christmas shoppers, do we really believe that customers aren’t aware of when and where they can buy their gifts? Are we so passive that it takes several glossy, brand-orientated Christmas adverts during the break of Coronation Street to tell us that we need to start Christmas shopping? I suggest that nowadays it isn’t so much Christmas, but more ‘Capitalmas!’ The traditional values and indeed the Christian origins of Christmas like family, love and generosity are replaced by the desire to spend, and spend a lot at that! The John Lewis advertisement might be lovely, but you can be damn well sure the prices of its products aren’t.

One of my bug bears towards the festive period is the sense of awe and drama centred around the ‘BIG day’. If you’ve ever watched Daybreak or anything similar, in the run-up to Christmas, celebrity chefs will usually be featured giving cooking advice to ensure the infamous Christmas dinner runs smoothly. Smoothly?! It makes it sound like a military operation! Of course, everyone wants their dinner to be nice, but does it have to be to the extent that Mums and Dads are running around in the kitchen stressing over the turkey on Christmas morn because of the myth that it has to be the ‘best’ dinner of the year? By contrast, I know a family who throw fish and chips in the oven for their Christmas dinner. Nontraditional this may be, but when asked why, they happily reply with, “It’s less stressful and we all want to enjoy our day.” If you’re a stress-head and just want to spend time with your relatives on Christmas day then there may be something in that. Furthermore, I feel the traditions of Christmas have been eroding away in recent years. The state our culture is in now means that political correctness gets hot under the collar if a child is to sit on Santa Claus’ lap and ask for Christmas gifts.