The Loneliest Day..... just not for 72% of the UK

Yesterday was a time of reflection for me.  Being isolated from friends and family this year, I didn't know what to do with myself.  So, I slept for most of the day - preferring to snuggle up with a pillow and the TV droning softly in the background, and just spend a bit of time thinking about things.  A time to contemplate what is going on in my life (not a lot), where my life has taken me so far (to some really great and also really nasty places) and where it may go in the future (who can say).  I think that basically sums up two hours of thoughts on the matters at hand.

I also opened a great many webpages on the theme of alone at Christmas, to see just how others cope when faced with what is basically a very family orientated time of year on their todds.

One webpage, albeit written in 2004, left me feeling quite cold.  Written by Julian Baggini, philosopher, for the Guardian newspaper, speaking of how modern he and his fellow travellers were, treating December 25th like any other day, not getting weighed down with all the "baggage" that goes with Christmas, and loving every minute of it.

Sounds like my idea of hell.

Not only did this guy bend over and worship his own clever arse, he clearly stuck his head right up it at the same time.  Talking about how he and a fellow drinker in a bar were involved in the Christmas spirit without being bogged under with family worries or concerns - quite frankly means that he wasnt in the Christmas spirit.  Yet his own egotistical views on how "very" he really was just goes to show that he really didn't have a clue about what Christmas really stands for.  There was also what almost amounted to a derision of Christians the world over "28% of the UK are not Christians", "for one day, its like the sizeable non Christian minorities get to run the country".  Hogwash.  Pig swill and drivel.  Christians still work Christmas when they have to!

A line that stood out above and beyond the rest of the tripe was this classic;

We could enjoy Christmas more than ever precisely because, by choosing to skip it, we had freed ourselves from the burdens of expectation that stand in the way of relaxed pleasure

Maybe he forgot that without Christmas in the first place, he wouldn't have had the day off to have relaxed pleasure.

He also went on to say about all the traditional family feuds etc and soforth, that we are all well accustomed to in every household that celebrates Christmas across the country.  But isn't that part of it?  Isn't it better that we argue and make up rather than all sit there pretending the world is one big rose tinted snowglobe?

I'd rather reality and family over what he offers in its place.

I'm probably going to be slated when I say this, but for me, Christmas is about Family.  I don't want to spend it anywhere else.  And if I can't spend it with family, I'll remember what it symbolises to me as a Christian.  (and its not a preachy blog this one - thats it on the Christian front).  And if I have no family and am not a Christian, I'll treat it as any other day, and not use someone elses feast day to validate my own sorry piss up with a strange woman at a bar, no matter how entertaining she may be.

Quite frankly, the man is an arse of the first order.  I can only hope 6 years later, he has managed to extract his head from it just enough to realise that by actively separating himself from Christmas, he can't then chose to use it as a comparison.  There is no comparison you can make to it, without looking like a dick.


This year, Christmas begins on the 30th of December for me.  Thats when I'm home.  Thats when I see my family.  I don't think I really care to know how Julians Modern alternative went this year.

To read more about this man's drivel, visit http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2004/dec/28/christmas.features11