Now that you are all busy planning your futures, remember to set aside time at Christmas to enjoy yourself. Reading the various newspaper and magazine articles about Christmas that appear at this time of year you could be forgiven for thinking that it is one constant period of celebration and parties.
I have yet to meet anyone who prepares the kind of Christmas meals the Tesco magazine promotes or goes to as many social gatherings as the people who write for Marie Claire seem to. In my world you have your work Christmas party, maybe a night out with your pals then spend Christmas Day and possibly Boxing Day closeted with your in-laws. Don't get me wrong I enjoy Christmas, its just that I just don't seem to have as much 'fun' as the media thinks I should be having.
I must admit that the thought of producing a Christmas dinner for twenty would fill me with dread and at my age attending lots of parties would mean spending the following day recovering from a hangover. Maybe you instinctively limit you social activity during the Season of Goodwill to something you can easily cope with.
In the old days Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were the big celebrations, the Christmas industry did not kick in until at least December not September as it does in the modern High Street. By the time the day comes round you really are cheesed off and ready to do anything other than actually celebrate Christmas.
I doubt if any modern child really has any concept of Christmas other than a major present receiving session. Christmas for me became a lot less exciting by the age of ten when people stopped giving me toys and started giving me clothes and toiletries as presents. I presume the change occurred because I was badly dressed and smelt 'a bit fresh' and not because my childhood was deemed to be offically over. Today twenty somethings openly ponder what their mum will get them for Christmas. There is something unseemly about that.
Maybe its time we all rejected the commercialism and just had fun at Christmas. Exchange goodwill instead of expensive presents and see how people treat you.