Thursday 6 December 2012

Xmas post - early!

Up the road, yesterday

I may have mentioned before that I'm not exactly what you call a Xmas person (never have been really). I'm at least partly with Sheldon Cooper on this (click on name for the clip, it won't embed). But, of course, once you have children in the house it's not really up to you what you like and don't like... well, not all the time anyway... thus I have learned to have (at least a bit of) a Xmas face. And it's pretty when it snows (outside, not my face) and it has snowed this week (bit early for Xmas really but what can you do... it snows when it snows...).


More up the road, good depth on this one (or something).

A couple of weeks ago I even wrote a Xmas poem... about the 'trying to be cheery and in the Xmas spirit' business. It's not as good as the O'Hooley & Tidow Xmas song (posted before ages ago, sounds like this, and yes, they were EXCELLENT at the folk club this week, thank-you very much, really magnificent performances!) but I've read the poem out twice now (in Brechin and at folk club this Tuesday) and it's not the worst Xmas item you'll experience this year, I'm sure. Its title keeps changing... as does a bit of the last line... but for now this is what it looks like:



Season's bleatings

“Are you excited about Xmas?” the young ones all say
"The snow and the tinsel, the bells and the sleigh?"

Well... we older and wiser know what lies ahead
The ups and the downs, the emotional spread

So we smile half a smile and we sigh half a sigh
And we think to ourselves “My... doesn't time fly?

Xmas again and it's come round so fast...”
And we look in our file labelled large “Xmas past”

And we see many entries, not all of them glowing
With happiness, cosiness, carols and snowing

Instead family dramas, the trials we've had
Our own soapy operas, good stories and bad

Silent times too, lonely days, plans gone wrong
Times when the holidays really dragged on

So we give back our answer – a “yes” and a “no”
And a guide to our yuletide follows below.



At Xmas expectations are sillily high
From immaculate beginnings to the perfect mince pie

So we're on to a loser from the start of the game
But we try to ignore that, not focus on blame

And we sing all the songs, even angels and kings
And shop till we flop, wearing out our best wings

And we cook and we stew, and our memories bake
And the telly works hard to keep spirits awake

And we sink now and then, maybe after a sherry
And we try not to tire of the word that is “merry”

And we miss special people who've left us and gone
And we try not to cry but the tears still switch on

Like the lights, that at Xmas, are pretty and bright
There's a positive note, hark, an ending's in sight

For the yule, this is all, it comes round, has its slot
And we wade our way through it, excited or not.



RF 2012




11 comments:

The Bug said...

Such a true poem! Mike's dad hates Christmas, while my mom was the Christmas queen. We fall somewhere in the middle, or closer to one side or the other depending on how the year has gone.

We write an annual Christmas poem, which have tended toward melancholy the older we get. Your poem reminds me (a bit) of the one I wrote for Christmas 2006:

http://danabugseyeview.blogspot.com/2009/12/18-days-of-christmas-fifteenth-day.html

Rachel Fox said...

I've tended to be more a New Year/Hogmanay person than a Xmas person... possibly because that celebration has less emphasis on family togetherness... and read from that what you will!
Though saying that I enjoy aspects of it too. I'm quite partial to the advent candle, the yule log, the roast potato, the Xmas card...
x

Marion McCready said...

Good one, I can hear you reading that, I bet it went down very well it's got a great rhythm!

Rachel Fox said...

You're very kind. I'm frighteningly out of practice at writing... looking at my files I see I've written the not-so-grand total of seven poems this year (and one of them isn't anything like "written" really). Will I write more in 2013..? No idea!
x

Roxana said...

it is all so true and poignant! i can relate to everything you say (in the post and the poem) - i have never been a christmas-fan but now since i have my little daughter, i have no choice but to try to invent some magic...


thank you for the song too, i am listening to it all over again and i suddenly find myself with tears in my eyes, unbelievable, from a christmas song!

Rachel Fox said...

I know... so many Xmas songs have been so overplayed that they make us cringe more than anything else (or maybe that's just me). It's nice to have a new one... and such a good one.

Didn't know you had a daughter, Roxana. They certainly do change everything!
x

The Bug said...

I finally got back to listen to the song - tears on Saturday morning. Sigh. Thanks!

Rachel Fox said...

Yeh, I know. She really gets the "I know I'm a grown-up but I sometimes feel like a child" tone right, doesn't she?
x

Dick said...

True, so true. I'm something of a yuletide misanthrope too (it's my bloody birthday) so this rings loud and clear with me.

Rachel Fox said...

That Jesus... he even ruined your birthday. He is SO selfish. Ho ho.

I am struggling more than ever with the christian bit of xmas this year (and I know christians think that it's the main bit but obviously for many of us it is quite the opposite... there was a winter festival before Jesus, innit?). As it is I went to a school concert and tried to join in with the carols (no, I did join in... I did not wabe placards) but my goodness.. how many times do we have to sing the words "virgin womb". Agh! Fetishizing virginity has always been so helpful for women and girls after all...

I just want a winter festival... yay midwinter... yay, it's cold so stay warm... yay, have some time off work and be with people you like/love. Roll on hogmanany.
x

Rachel Fox said...

That would be "wave placards". Obviously.
x