Merry looming deadline

Husband-and-wife comedians and commentators Jeremy Elwood and Michele A’Court share their views.

The suun sun has returned, the temperatures are climbing, and su summer feels like it’s almost upon us. That would please me, except it also means it’s just over five weeks until Christmm Christmas.

Why we coc continue to throw the mother of all spanners into the works of ouur our summer holidays is a mystery to me. Yes, the date is the same everywhere e else, but whereas in the northern hemispheree, hemisphere, Christmas is a glowing candle of family fun in the middle of thhe the bleakest weather of the year, here we have to turn our back on the beach and plan a celebration indoors.

Well, I doo do anyway. a I tend to do the cooking at our place, particularly on o Christmas Day, and while I don’t actually mind (in fact, I enjoyy enjoy it it) it does mean I have to start planning around now.

Yes, I knoow know people get annoyed when shops start putting their decoraat decorations up this early, but I kind of feel their pain as well. You DO have to think ahead. Christmas is the closest most of us will geet get to planning a big event every year – you want to get it right, y you don’t want to hit the big day itself and discover you’ve forgo forgotten something important, and you need to have a battle plan to make sure it all goes according to schedule.

So many th things can derail your plans. The weather. An unexpectedd unexpected guest. g A particularly slow to cook batch of potatoes that nearly scuppered the first lunch I cooked for my in-laws.

So forgive me if I (metaphorically) put my tree up a little prematurely.

The end of the year also happens to be one of the busiest times of year for comedians. While the rest of you knock off for your work do, we tend to be the ones providing the entertainment. My end-of-year run for the past few years has involved touring the country with 7Days Live, which is fantastic fun, and puts a proper full-stop on the year, but it does mean I’m away from home a lot in the lead-up to Christmas itself.

That wouldn’t be a problem if I was the kind of person who bought gifts throughout the year and hid them away, but I’m not. There’s been more than one year where big-box stores remaining open until midnight on Christmas Eve, or a wellstocked service station coming into view, have been the only things stopping my nearest and dearest going home empty handed on the 25th.

So, my dilemma is this – I feel like I should be planning now, but I know I won’t. I will, therefore, spend the next few weeks in a slightly dazed panic, and looking forward to Boxing Day.