I love Christmas but invariably things get in the way of my enjoyment of it. Mostly it’s having to work in retail over the festive period. Luckily we don’t get overly busy, our core audience is tourism and there isn’t much of that over the holidays. Being in work all day does mean you end up having to try to do your shopping at peak times which basically leads to me not bothering much, or shopping online.

One of the biggest downsides though is how quickly it’s over. We spend so long building up to the main event and nowadays it’s over in the blink of an eye. I recall a time when Boxing Day was a proper holiday and shops weren’t open, in fact, some places remained closed for the days in between too so there was more family time. Sales didn’t kick in till January back then too. In modern times I feel that it’s barely a day before everyone is back at work or frantically elbowing people out of the way for a perceived bargain. We don’t seem to get the time to stop and enjoy it all.

These are but minor quibbles and I do my best to enjoy the season as much as I can manage and appreciate the day with loved ones.