Bah Humbug

Is it just me or is anyone else sick of Christmas already? Every year the madness starts earlier - the traffic last night was chaos and unfortunately my journey takes me in the general area of the Metro Centre, a nightmare of a place at the best of times but full of Christmas shoppers it is hell on earth. Try finding a parking space anywhere near the city centre and you can kiss goodbye to getting to a meeting on time (how to make a good impression in your first week)! Three of the houses opposite our bedroom window are already illuminated and flashing incessantly and it is only a matter of time before the inflatable santa is trying to float down from the roof of a house around the corner. Fortunately I can come out of hiding at work as the christmas meal is booked and paid for and I have managed to avoid adding my name to the list (not the meal for which we were asked to sign up for in June - I deleted that email without even reading past the subject line). It's not that I don't want to go, I just can't afford it having not been paid since January. That and the 'secret santa'. I still haven't worked out who the person I had to buy for last year is and obviously who ever bought for me doesn't know me from Adam as I am still deciding if it is a table cloth or a shawl!

Perhaps my lack of enthusiasm for christmas is down to the fact that I'm not looking forward to the event itself in any way, shape or form after my Dads recent departure from the family. Christmas day was the only day in recent years when my parents, my brother and myself were all in the same place at the same time. Also, due to our respective family commitments the wife and I have to spend Christmas apart. Perhaps it is also due to the lack of small children in my family (for which my mother will only blame myself)! Christmas doesn't seem to have the same magic as it does when there a kids involved. Which reminds me that Christmas isn't all bad as I'm sure the kids on the wife's side of the family will be only to happy to help decorate the house and make mince pies!

So when is the last posting date for Christmas? No, not for posting cards but for ordering on the internet, you don't think I'm going near a shop do you!