Ah, Christmas is almost upon us. Well actually it’s still over 3 weeks away but that hasn’t stopped folk from trimming up their homes and getting into the Christmas spirit. Christ(mas)! Some had their decorations up halfway through November. But when is it acceptable to get up in the loft, locate those trimmings and deck the halls?
I’ve always operated under the assumption that the earlier people put up their decorations the lower the standard of living and level of intelligence in the surrounding area. This may sound harsh (and I can hear the Guardian readers and their ilk gnashing their teeth in indignation at such a social slur) but think about it. In the city you live in, in which areas do you first notice the twinkling of Christmas lights? I bet it’s in the more deprived areas. In Sheffield you’re guaranteed to see the decorations first in areas like The Manor, Wybourn, Gleadless Valley and Parson Cross to name just four. Interestingly, as a side point, all of these areas are proudly prefixed with the definite article (‘the’) when residents refer to them: t’Manor; t’Wybourn; t’Valley; t’Cross. Now, far be it from me to make sweeping generalisations but to my mind, if an area is proudly prefixed with ‘The’ by its residents (where no prefix exists in the area’s offical name), it’s more often than not a socially-deprived area. You never hear anyone say, “Oh, I’m from t’Dore” or, “Yeah, I live on t’Gleadless” do you? Precisely. Now I’m not saying that all the folk who reside in these ‘definite’ areas are stupid or thick or bad people. That would be ludicrous. I have good friends from all the areas I’ve already mentioned and many hold good jobs and are far more intelligent that I could ever hope to be. You’ll not be surprised to know, however, that said people no longer reside in the areas of their childhood.
Anyway, back to my original question. Most people would agree that any time before December 1st is way too soon to be decorating the house in preparation for the festive season. My mum used to force my brother and I to endure TWO WHOLE WEEKS of December before she’d consider putting up the tree and decorations (but, then, she’s from Gleadless so a little bit of class and decorum is standard!). Sure, it was agony waiting, and waiting, and waiting but we both understood that putting the things up too soon dampened their impact and ‘specialness’ by the time Christmas Day approached and, far from being a dazzlingly vibrant focus for the entire room, the tree and its bright lights and shining baubles were simply another ornament in the corner of the room. By waiting that little bit longer to erect the tree, the magic of the decorations remained, even on Christmas Day.
Personally, now that we’re into December I’m happy to see any trees and decorations going up after December 4th. Why that date? I hear you ask. No reason. I’ve just decided, as is my right seeing as this is my blog, to arbitrarily choose that date. Of course, I can hear some screaming that December 24th is too soon to be putting the decorations up and that by December 26th they should be coming down. To that I say Bah! Humbug!
He's reight, tha knows! 