Christmas: it's not as good as it used to be.

The title explains all about this blog that you really need to know. Now I'm getting older and I realise that the value of Christmas does change, and I also know that we obviously miss the mountains of presents that, on reflection, we didn’t realise there were enough hiding places for. My desire for this blog, however, is talk more about the strange things you miss about Christmas past.

I'd like to start with a very interesting subject. Simply, the Christmas jumper. Now the Christmas jumper will have come in many sizes, hopefully not too many shapes, and many styles. Now many of you, when thinking of this wonderful item, will probably picture the classic knitted number. A style I'm sure we all remember, the snowman design knitted into a red woollen jumper. For me though, the Christmas jumper covers more than that. The jumper could range from the traditional festive number, right the way through to the families attempt to get you better dressed. The two, to me, are one and the same thing.

The Christmas jumper was a practical thing, it kept you warm as a small child, and even though it itched, we all loved the though of the festive period. The practicalities continued though, maybe warmth wasn't as paramount in the later years of its appearances, but we needed to keep up with junior school fashion. Christmas always seemed to fall at a good time in the school year. You'd been at school for a term now, the trends were definitely set, and right on time your uncle would appear with the stylish new jumper to impress your mates. Now I miss this, and I think secretly we all do. Life for us 20somethings, going on 70somethings, feels tough and we all hark back to a time when your uncle, or whoever the "stylish" member of the family was, was your greatest style input.

I feel something that has lead to this woeful situation is the loss of mystery surrounding Christmas. Not only have the days of mountains of presents long since left us, but so have the days of having no idea what was wrapped in those small, materialistic packages of joy. It seems now, wrapping something in brightly coloured paper isn't enough to make us like something. People seem so increasingly concerned that presents will be liked, or be useful, that I, and feel many others as well, are picking many of our own gifts. "I'll just put some money in your card so you can get what you want." A practical option for many a grandparent I'm sure, but counting the number of tenners that fall out of a card is not a patch on the excitement and mystery surrounding actual presents under a tree. For me this situation reached its peak this year. I write this before the big day knowing full well that there are a collection of 6 books (one of which I have already read, and two I wrapped myself) and 2 dvds awaiting my opening on that special morning. Christmas has lost its mystery, and I know something will never be the same, but for the sake of everyone everywhere, let's keep presents a mystery!! A surprise jumper you will never wear is surely better than a book you picked off the shelf yourself. Shops allow returns for a reason!!

Next on my list of strange things to miss about Christmas is an usual one, that's kind of why its on the list I guess. This one is the (pointless) notion of leave a carrot outside the back door for Rudolph and his friends. Now everyone remembers the mince pies and sherry for the big man himself that were left next to the fire, and I don't miss these because I neither eat mince pies nor drink sherry. I guess its not the carrot I miss, but the length that people go to, to make Christmas special. People always say the greatest part of any lie is the little details.

The final part of the rant is the annual family games. Admit it. We all miss them. Gone are the days that, at about half six, we'd be all full up on a big dinner, and we'd collectively as a nation settle in front of the TV for some classic viewing and the young en would want to bust out their new board game and get playing. Now I can't help but feel that if someone were to suggest a mass game of Monopoly this year I'd suddenly be very busy and unable to participate. This may stem from being the youngest of the extend family and always being the one wanting to play a game in the past, and there may well have been a mass sigh of relief from the family the year I didn't get a new multi-player game for Christmas. Maybe those of you out there that aren't the youngest won't agree with me on this topic, and if you don't well, write your own blog!

In the interesting event, and actually rather frequent event, of no new board game appearing within the last 12 months then a family was left with two options. Those were a) find an old game out of the cupboard, or b) find a pack of cards and all gather around the table. Both were exciting prospects for the anticipant (I checked, this is a real word!) 7 year old. The nightmare scenario for me was always the 1978 edition of Trivial pursuit, that was a long and lonely cheese-less night. At the other end of the spectrum was a good game of Find the Lady, a card game that must have died out with the last millennium.  Due to its demise I'm not 100% sure of the rules any more. All I seem to remember is the hilarity of the title "dummy hand" to a younger version of myself, and a years supply of 1p and 2p coins. The basic idea, I think, being that a player put 2 pence in to play, one to play and one for the lady. To win said money, the first player to use all their cards gained one half of the money and the person with the Queen of hearts got the other. Perhaps the greatest of memories of this simple game was the rare appearance of a 5 pence coin. Always met with a very over the top "Ayup it's snowing over there!! A 5p!! You must be feeling flush!!" Being started usually by my grandad, this jovial abuse often loosing its comedic value as soon as I added my best effort.

Now it would appear that I am as bad at saying goodbye to you, my readers, as I am to anyone else. So I'll do what I usually do, and finish with a joke.

Two snowmen in a field, one says to the other "do you smell carrots?"

Merry Christmas to you all. Have a good one.