FLASHBACK #28: Christmas In UK & The Perfect Gift

A week after my sister left Finland, it was time for me to fly to the UK to spend Christmas with my family. It was a short visit, arriving on Christmas Eve and returning on December 29th to spend the New Year period with Bree.

Christmas in my family is always manic, especially the week before the big day. Normally, I spend around £500 on Christmas and my parents are even more generous. It's my Mum, you see. She just loves to spend!

Anyway, Christmas 2002 was particularly difficult for my sister who would - and should - have been celebrating her first Christmas with her child. As usual, there was a big build-up to Christmas, but at the same time, there was a sense of foreboding in that Christmas was a family event and yes, somehow, the family hadn't been completed with it's first grandchild.

Christmas Day came with a frenzy of presents and I received perhaps the best gift ever: a digital camera. In the three years that followed, I took over 10,000 photos from all over the world so it was definitely a good purchase!

My sister had managed to pull herself together, putting aside her grief on this special day, to create a wonderful feast of turkey with all the trimmings, complete with a flaming Christmas pudding! Yummy! I do love a British Christmas Dinner, but it's the concept of Christmas that I have a problem with. Why, oh why, have we made Christmas as commercial as it has become?

And why oh why to we buy into it when we all know that the person we are celebrating could not possibly have been conceived immaculately? I discussed this alot with my religious colleague in the office, but it seems that religious people have an answer for everything. Answer this, then: If Adam and Eve truly were the first humans and had two sons, Cane and Abel, then we're all inbred offspring as Cane and Abel would have had to procreate further with their own mother. Eugh!

Anyway, without going too off-topic, the rest of the holidays went without a glitch. After several days of visiting my immediate family and watching too much TV (why do they insist on putting Return of The Jedi on every Christmas?), it was time to return to Finland. As a family, however, we wouldn't be apart for very long as I would be flying to Tenerife to join them on January 6th!

As I returned to Finland, the New Years Eve celebrations were gathering pace. We met up with two friends of ours then made our way to a nightclub in Helsinki. The atmosphere was a bit naff with people lolling around here and there. The place was half empty, but I was still surprised there was as many people as there was. One thing I noticed was that many people were there alone which went to show just how many lonely people there were out there.

To me, the spirit of Christmas is all about having an opportunity to spend time with your loved ones. On that note, Bree and I welcomed in the new year with a kiss and champagne!