A slimmed-down Christmas doesn’t have to be grim
THE beauty of Christmas 2020 – Coronavirus Christmas 1st – is that it’s still a blank canvas anybody can adorn in any way. Nobody knows quite what to expect; therefore expect the unexpected.
Mid-october sounds an awful time to talk about our O-come-allYe-faithful-christmas: not because we’ve got there too early. We’ve got there too late.
Supermarkets are already wellstocked with everything from trinkets to turkeys, from festoons to festive fare. And little children have already written their letters to Santa in Lapland.
But I argue that there is still time to rescue most people – if not everybody – from needless excess. Less is more ... or put another way, more is less. A slimmed-down Christmas 2020 doesn’t have to be grim, just a bit more inventive.
One mum on the radio the other day, said she’d just cleared all her debts before lcokdown. Now, she’s approached a doorstep lender – interest rate £25 for every £1 borrowed – for a loan “to buy the kids presents”. If only this so wellmeaning mother had awoken to the ancient truth: small and wrapped is far more valued than big and unwrapped: the big as much to do with cost as size.
Start with a rosy apple. Add a net of 20 marbles. Double-wrap with snowmen, nine Aldi chocolate bars wedged next to a cheerful 69p colouring book from Home Bargains and a jar of Lidl strawberry jam covered in angels. Finally, add a shiny commemorative 50p piece buried in bubble-wrap; also a bumper pack of 12 crayons from B&M ... and the largest of Tesco’s oranges (Other suppliers available!).
“Nonsense!” lots of Mail readers will exclaim: “Our Gerald and Geraldine would never stand for such an offering!” At precisely
6am on a crisp andeven December 25 morning, they would both burst into tears; throw a tantrum; rush to their bedroom window; throw their bulging stockings onto the street below; and adamantly refuse to join Aunt Agatha and Gran-papa Parry downstairs for sherry and charades. Disaster!
Or is it? Most children are not daft. They know almost as much about the pandemic as grown-ups. Intrinsically, children are aware of freeze and squeeze: eternally grateful for small mercies.