Huge Burden for One Day

Christmas Day carries a huge burden. We try to pack so much into it, much more than one day can bear.

Christmas is a highlight of the spiritual and religious year, requiring a more spectacular religious celebration than last year.

Christmas is a day when families get together, but in a globalised world, this is almost impossible. The snow did not help in the northern hemisphere.

Christmas lunch must be the best meal of the year. In days when food was scarce, that was the reality, but in an age of plenty people dine at restaurants all the time, it is an impossible goal.

Christmas is a day for the best possible gifts. When I was a child, we played with our Christmas gifts for the rest of the year. Now children get so many expensive gifts, that diminishing returns set in. No matter how wonderful the seventh present, it brings very little pleasure. The same seven gifts would bring far more enjoyment, if they were spread throughout the year.

With such high expectations on one day, no wonder it is often a let-down.