IS IT CHRISTMAS YET?

"Guess what??!!?? It's almost Christmas time!" This was the greeting I always got from Fotoulla Kattou, my boss at the Marina Fish and Chip shop where I used to work. I didn’t like that greeting and she knew it. Like clockwork, she started counting down to Christmas in July. And now, I’m the one counting down. Well, from December 1^st...

It’s not that I didn’t like Christmas, far from it. It had just become another day for me. As a kid, my mum made a big deal out of it - cooking, cleaning, shopping for clothes, going to the market endlessly, decorations, visiting EVERYBODY we knew (ok, maybe not everybody, but a lot of people...) and the great big tree with too many decorations that were always so dusty and dirty and never complete. But from my perspective, it was about going to grubby markets haggling for prices from EACH market stall, cooking for visitors, washing the never ending dishes, cleaning the always dirty house and going to see a Santa who didn’t measure up. It was a season of “So Much to Do and No Fun” for me. When we came of age and could decide what we wanted to do for Christmas, we opted to buy what we wanted to wear when we wanted to buy/wear it, we preferred the normal amount of food for just us at home, not us and 1000 other guests (that meant less dishes), watching Christmas movies on telly in our comfy home clothes. Just an easy day in. And definitely no decorations. That was never fun for me. For a long while, I never got a tree and this used to bother Fotoulla. She never could understand my lack of enthusiasm for the season. Of course, as I got older, the meaning of Christmas changed for me and it got personal.

Now, however, it is a lot more different. The holidays are quite hard for single parents, especially because of the children we have. It’s hard to keep up with their enthusiasm that we unconsciously ruin it for them as well. I was at the supermarket with Aviela yesterday and all the decorations had her spinning. Literally. The life-sized dancing Santa, the humongous and heavily decorated trees, the baubles, and the Christmas music – it was an attack of the Christmas fever I tell you! But not to her. No, it was a wonder for her to be in such a place (last year was the first time I put up any decorations at home) so I get her awe. As soon as we got home she began to ask when Christmas was coming, why there wasn’t any snow yet (none on this side of the continent) and how come we don’t have a tree. Aviela sings loudly – she’s started singing all the Christmas songs she knows. Which is just one.

If not for anything or anyone else, don’t be like me and starve your children of the Christmas jolly...get into the mood and begin to feel Christmas again. Love it for them. Put up a tree, no matter how small, get decorating projects you can make with them (that way you spend little or nothing on decorations); cook a special meal with and for them. Create that ideal Christmas experience for them and enjoy it through their eyes. And on Christmas Eve, tell them why we celebrate and make it so special. Tell them about the Baby Jesus, how He came and why He came. Have yourselves a merry Christmas to spite the enemy. Your joy may have been killed, theirs haven’t. If it used to be special because of “him”, make it even more “special-er” because of them.

NB: I still don’t like Christmas decorations, but I love my daughter so I’m going all out this year. At least I intend to try...and also becasue I finally get why Fotoulla loves Christmas so much!