Minkyweasel World

I am feeling a little better today now that things are back to normal. The one day in the year when everybody in the Christian world goes mad is done with for another twelve months. I wonder just why people don’t sit back and have a real think about what they do in the approach to the day. There is nothing wrong in having a good time, there is nothing wrong in getting together with friends and family and letting your hair down once in a while. It becomes ridiculous when you overdo things as many do. The one good thing, actually there are several good things for not following the traditional Christmas way of celebrating and that is not having to cope with what follows. Pressure from others can be irresistable and we can so easily succumb to what our peers are doing because ‘it’s tradition’. Why? We make it hard for ourselves unnecessarily. So what are the benefits of not following after tradition? Well for one, and I think this is a good one, you don’t have to eat turkey sandwiches every day for the following week! You won’t have to eat too much food because it will rot away if you don’t. Your purse will be fuller than it otherwise would be. You will have done what you want to do instead of just being another sheep. You will be more relaxed, far more than if you did the whole ‘Christmas thing’. I read another girl’s blog yesterday and she went out for a picnic instead of sitting down and gorging herself on all that Christmas food we call ‘Christmas dinner’. Her stomach will be thanking her for that and even more so her waist! Then there is the drink………oh yes, we all do it don’t we? Just that other glass of wine, that one more beer. You know how it goes and before you know it you’ve had too much and then you don’t even remember a lot about the day you had spent weeks preparing for! I didn’t watch television yesterday, it remained switched off the whole day. I didn’t listen to the radio or play any music either. Have you tried doing that these days? It is surprising how much we use these things in our lives and when we decide to take a day free from these outside influences it becomes difficult. We become so used to things, just like the traditions we adhere to. Today however I switched on the tv. and watched the news. The first thing I saw was an outside broadcast from London showing the crowds of people waiting outside a major high street store for the Boxing Day sales to begin. I wrote about this a day or so and why I would never do that. What are people searching for? Why is it so necessary to queue all morning for that special bargain? It all smacks of materialism to me. Alright, there may be a chance to buy something you desire but would otherwise not be able to afford but do you absolutely need it? Will it really make your life that much better? The best things in life are those which are free. The best things in your life are the people in it and Creation itself. Enjoy these two things, the rest is superficial. Have a nice day!

Shirley Anne