To everyone that I didn't get a chance to speak to or mail individually, I hope you had a great Christmas and New Year. If you're interested, mine was quiet on the whole and saw only a smattering of drunkenness mixed with a soupcon of overindulgence. As planned, we travelled back to England on Boxing Day. Christmas day was spent in Lisbon, which was weird because the whole city was deserted and there wasn't that Christmassy feel that you get at home. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it might have had something to do with the fact that the average Portuguese worker only gets two days holiday for Christmas and is back in work on Boxing Day. I haven't quite worked out why, but Christmas is not such a commercial experience here. I suspect, with very little evidence, that it is because the people are more religious than I am used to, so they take it more seriously. Having said that, I have never known a city to spend so much money on decorations. Every street was lit up and the biggest (fake) Christmas tree in Europe was erected down by the port. The government are obviously trying to prove some sort of point about being able to compete with he rest of Europe. My favourite classroom quote of the season; when asked about the illuminations, one of my more enlightened students said that at least they gave the homeless people something to look at over Christmas. Bah, humbug!
I used to love Christmas when I was a kid, then, like everyone else, I realised the cheapness and forced-happiness of it all. BUT I'm very happy to say that, as most of my extended family now are all growed up, I have started to enjoy Christmas again. We have even started to develop some new 'traditions';
The Afternoon Pint With My Dad- not a new event, but one that is extended and repeated in the name of festivity.
The Christmas Dinner Repeat- as we enjoyed it so much the first time, my poor mother now prepares Christmas dinner at least two or three times over the festive period.
Al's Christmas Cake- My Scottish uncle makes a fruit cake a month before Christmas and adds a glass of brandy every night to make it the softest, plumpest and most inebriating slice of heaven.
Plus, I am now officially old enough to admit that New Years Eve is the worst night of the year to go out drinking and that it is much more sensible to stay in and get drunk inyour pyjamas. I tried it a couple of years ago and felt depressed but not this year. This year it was marvellous.
