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Friday, December 01, 2006

Sunny Santa

The UK does Christmas big! The decorations in shop windows have been up for months, the advertising even longer. The street xmas lights have gone up and switched on, and last night, while walking home, I passed 50 or so people singing traditional carols under a real fir tree, despite the gale force winds that kept everyone else inside. My favourite xmas moment so far was spotting 10 hell's angels riding around in santa suits - complete with christmas lights and decorations all over their motorcycles!

Its lovely! I'm really getting into the "christmas spirit" like never before, but the truth is, I like SA's sweaty sandy christmas tradition. I love spending xmas eve with a GnT in the sand dunes at my folks holiday home in the transkei. Its all I've ever known and there's comfort to be expected in that, but I think my enjoyment of it goes beyond familiarity. All the lights just disguise a violent consumerist buzz. Xmas at home, at least for me, is a relaxed family affair, with castle lager and sunscreen. No real fir tree and actual snow is going to compete with that!

5 comments:

Katie Possum said...

aaaw! I'm jealous. I was going to go home for december but my boyfriend's fmaily is coming up here and it didnt make financial sense to go home this december. I'm probably going to make it back by april - at which point I'll be desperate for sunshine! :)

Enjoy your sunny christmas!

Unknown said...

Yeah. To me Christmas means the smell of sunscreen, and much beer by the pool. Boerewors and bacon on a skottel in the morning, with champagne and orange juice. Swimming all day. Dinner in swimming costumes and sarongs, the boys bare-chested, and all of still smelling like sunscreen and chlorine. *sigh*

And I get to be at a BIG family Christmas this year, because my sister cunningly planned her wedding for the weekend before. :)

Unknown said...

Am I the dude in question, tig? In which case, OF COURSE!

Anonymous said...

i can't stand marketing hype..!!

(beer, sand and sun however i can deal with)

Katie Possum said...

other-duke: if you cant stand marketing hype, best you plan to be out of the uk over christmas - forget the silly season: its absurd!