And the compliments of the season to all from us!
I spent one of my better Xmases yesterday: read quite a lot, played on the web, did some plumbing to alter my shower outflow so that it waters the roses (there is a severe drought on here, remember), read some more, went to Belinda's to water her seedlings (she's away) and make some running repairs to the watering system in her orchard. (Those black plastic pipes are quite old and have gone hard as hell. Getting the joiners in needed lots of upper-body strength. Lucky for me that Tea was around!) Home, yet more reading and bed.
That's a pretty good Xmas in my book. No rellies, no screaming kidz, no presents given or received. My whole family is pretty much like that these days: we tend to give presents on the Lewis Carrol system: like the Mad Hatter we have unbirthdays whenever it seems like a good idea. Not being Christians, the religious side of Xmas means nothing to us (and if we were, I'd hope that we'd be more interested in Easter, which has always struck me as the significant time for Christians), and not being great consumers of capitalist propaganda, the mad spending side of it does not appeal either.
Christmas Day and Good Friday are the two days of the year that are always difficult to negotiate. You can't buy anything, even bread or milk or petrol is difficult, and you can't go anywhere because there is nothing on, and you can't even listen to the radio or watch TV because it's got nothing of the slightest interest: just stupid carols and idiot tallkback hosts who suddenly decide even though they have built an audience by talking about science and politics and current events all year, that they must mindlessly talk about Christmas (or Easter) on this day, even though a moment's reflection would tell them that anyone who is actually interested in Christmas will be somewhere actually doing it and not listening to the radio, and anyone who is listening to the radio will not be interested in yet more stupid Christmas stories.
Thankfully, ABC Radio National came to the rescue: they were playing re-runs of "the best of Radio National" and while I worked I was able to listen to really interesting interviews with Sir Gustav Nossell (perhaps Australia's most eminent scientist), and Albert Ellis (very famous American psychologist).
In short, a good Christmas, spent just the way I like it. May you all have whatever the sort of Christmas is that you like best!