Paul.E.Bailey’s World – The Magic of Christmas

Posted on by Paul.E.Bailey

I know many will be posting today to wish their followers glad tidings and so on and I figured I should throw my weight behind the number. So here it is…MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!!!

I think Christmas is important. I think it’s absolutely vital to be honest. For somebody who is vociferously atheist that may sound like a bit of a hypocritical statement, but bear with me.

Christmas is a Christian festival. If you don’t know that then you either live under a rock or you’re about as ignorant as it’s humanly possible to be. It’s all about the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, the fabled son of the Christian god. I’m sure most of us have attended a nativity play before. In fact I daresay most of us have appeared in a nativity play before; certainly those of us of a British or American persuasion.

I think the religious relevance has more or less been quashed in the last fifty or so years. Christmas has become something else; something big and ugly. It’s an entirely corporation driven sham nowadays. It’s all about the big companies getting everybody to dip their hands deep into their pockets and spend, spend, spend. Trust me; those guys are the only winners at Christmas time.

What’s awful is the fact that we all feel the need to act like puppets to them and duly head out into the stores or shop online to give our money to them lest we should feel like we aren’t showing our loved ones the appreciation they deserve. We all feel we must spend money to symbolise love. It’s heart-breaking that we’ve been suckered in such a way.

However, I don’t want to wax too lyrically about the ugly side of Christmas. I’d rather think about what’s good about it.

As a child, Christmas was my favourite time of year above and beyond all else. Yes; I was excited about Father Christmas coming to visit and giving me a whole bunch of presents, but it was so much more than that. I loved the decorations at home, at school and around all the shops. I loved the Christmas music, whether cheesy pop on the radio or brass bands on the streets. I loved the school assemblies where we’d sing Christmas songs and finding out what part I‘d be playing in the Christmas play (it wasn’t always necessarily a nativity – I remember we did Oliver one year). I loved seeing family. New year’s eve would always be spent at my Nanna Bailey’s house; a shedload of bodies crammed into her front room playing games and having fun. I loved decorating the tree and other parts of the house. I loved it all! Christmas was just amazing.

There were two fundamental elements as to why my Christmases were always so special and so wonderful. Those two elements were my parents. They did everything and more to ensure that my sisters and I had the best times possible at Christmas. My parents insist they didn’t really spoil us, but I disagree. I remember waking up on Christmas mornings to mountains of gifts awaiting me and they’d always get me exactly what I wanted the most. I was never disappointed.

My parents were my Father Christmas. They were the bringers of all the joy I ever felt in those early days. When I realised the nonexistence of the big man (I wrote questions for him on a blackboard I had one year and he didn’t answer them), I wasn’t sad because I knew once and for all that all the good things I’d ever received and the great times I’d had were because of my mum and dad. It was a cause to be happy, not sad.

Many years on and the parent to the young child is me. I know that the magic of Christmas Caellum is going to feel will stem from me and his mum. We have a duty to create that magic. It’s through us that he’ll experience all the wonders this time of year brings. He’s too young to understand it all right now, but he soon won’t be. Parents have an obligation to make Christmas as special as it is to a child as far as I’m concerned.

I relish the challenge! I look forward to putting aside all my personal misgivings about this religious festival that the corporations have hijacked for their own selfish gains and making Christmas about what I personally feel it should be; a time of wonderment for the young. Christmas is for kids. That is my fervent belief.

I have a very strong issue with those parents who selfishly drag their kids to a pub on Christmas day just so they can throw a few beers down their necks; taking their kids away from their presents for however long just to satisfy their own needs. It honestly makes me want to puke! Those parents who turn Christmas into their thing ahead of their children are scum in my opinion.

No; while Caellum is a child, Christmas will be all about him. It’ll be his day. It’ll be his brother’s day. That is only the right thing to do. They simply come first at Christmas. All kids should come first at Christmas. I’ll do all I can to have Caellum grow up and remember how magical this time of year was when he was young just the way I do. He deserves that much. I’ll be his Father Christmas for as long as he believes in him.

If you’re a mother or a father, take a look at your kids right now and look at how excited you’ve made them. Yes; it is perhaps rather aesthetic because the excitement is likely as a result of all the presents they received, but as I outlined earlier, your child will grow up to appreciate everything else you did to make Christmas special. They’ll appreciate all you did more than what you (or Santa) brought them when they come of age so think about how happy you have made them and not the gifts because it’s the former that will stay with them forever.

I already got my Christmas gifts this year in the form of my mum’s successful operation to remove a tumour and a good laugh with my dad at the pub on Friday (23rd). Everything else from this point onwards is a bonus. Even at the age of thirty-two it seems my parents are still the bringers of joy.

I truly hope whoever might be reading this has a great Christmas and that the New Year (whatever relevance you place on it) holds something great in store for you. Thank you for all your support over the months and I hope I continue to entertain you.

Paul

47 thoughts on “Paul.E.Bailey’s World – The Magic of Christmas”

  2. “I have a very strong issue with those parents who selfishly drag their kids to a pub on Christmas day just so they can throw a few beers down their necks;”

    Ah man, playing in the car park of a pub in who knows where with my brothers, those were the days. Now, I love my mum and dad (God rest his soul), and I’m not saying we’d been there for Christmas day, just every other day. 😛 I’ve had a good time being an insufferable jackass this holiday season, a late merry CHRISTmas to you, sir!

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    1. As ever, just my opinion and I’m always open to alternative views. If you enjoyed your trips to the pub over Christmas as a nipper then I stand corrected in your case. I’ve had other people say they never minded it too, so I think it definitely come down to the people involved in the end.
      The fact that the religious relevance of Christmas is totally ignored nowadays actually grates on me. Same with Easter. They’ve become gift days. Gift days that we can’t back out of either because imagine how a child would feel nowadays if they received nothing. I hope you had a good one and I have absolutely no doubt you celebrated the birthday of JC 🙂

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      1. ah, my light-heartedness has undone me yet again, 😛 I’m actually in total agreement with you. The pub is unbearably dull for a child, for almost every child even, and that’s not even to touch upon the bad habits they may encourage the older nippers to get into. In my case, those WERE the days, rather literally, but they weren’t so much “the days”, as in, let me at those days again. Accidentally downing my mum’s bacardi and coke as a knee high might be good for a laugh looking back, but that environment ought to be the exception, not the norm.

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      2. I have a real penchant for being reasonable. Or is it that I’ll go to great lengths not to get into an argument? Probably both. I just use my own childhood as a benchmark. The only time we ever went in a pub was when we picked my dad up from the Labour Club on a Sunday afternoon after he’d played football. I definitely didn’t down any Bacardi and Coke, but I know I liked to dip my finger in the froth of dad’s bitter and taste it (so glad I’m communicating with somebody whose unlikely to giggle at the euphemism…or am I?)
        The pub, as any person with a few working brain cells will know, is not a place for kids and parents should know better than to subject them to it, with the possible exception of those who actually run a pub. Even in that circumstance, you wouldn’t have the kids running around the place

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  3. I think that’s awesome that you make Christmas special for you child. I remember just how magical Christmas was when I was a kid. I don’t have kids, but I have plenty of nieces and nephews and I love watching them enjoy Christmas. I also enjoy spending time with friends and family, the decorations, and the music — STILL and I’m 42. Presents don’t mean anything to me, so we don’t exchange them in our family.
    Merry Christmas and Happy New year.

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  4. Sorry I missed this on the day, but I was busy making the magic happen..lol!
    They realy let people bring kids in bars there? It’s sad when the the parents don’t realize that their time for selfishness is over. Even sadder on Christmas.🎅
    Now on to New Years!!

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    1. Yes, they really let people take their kids in the pub on Christmas day. Honestly, if I owned a pub I’d make it a rule that no kids were allowed in at any time, simply to protect them.
      I’m sure you brought the magic in spades 🙂 I think New Year will be a quiet affair for me

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      4. We’ve never done New Years fireworks. Just as well as I find them tedious.
        Champagne has become a hallmark of my New Year in recent years. The cigar tradition only started last year so it’s not quite a tradition yet

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  5. You really capture so much of how I feel about christmas in this. Both the good and bad. I don’t think being aware of the bad takes away the magic it creates. Especially because of parents like mine and like you. I’ve spent Christmas away from home for the past couple years. Which sucks. Even as an adult my parents did all they could to make Christmas magical for my brothers and I. haha my mother puts so much heart into it that we would still act like kids. Three grown men sitting around in their living room unwrapping presents in our pajamas while trying to stop the dog from eating the wrapping paper. Every year we did this. Even when one dog died it seemed the next one was intent on keeping up the tradition. Even when one of us would work a night shift christmas eve and have to change into our pajamas, fuck-all tired, and sit for hours. Sorry for being reminiscent. This just really hit home so much on everything I feel christmas is and should be. And it reminded me of who is responsible for that magic. I need to give my parents a skype call. Thanks.

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    1. Don’t apologise. Fucking love this comment! I’m glad I was able to trigger the memories for you. I feel your pain on the working over Christmas front. Happened a few times while I worked at the airport. New Year night shifts were the killers. Even now, well into my thirties, I crave to be around my family when Christmas rolls around.
      I hope you enjoyed your Skype call bud

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      3. It all went good till it got dark. The evening was horrible 😒…And finished with a flashback and new memories 😔😔 We’ve been to the metro centre today cause the kids wanted to spend their money… I’m in bed now and this is where I’ll be the rest of the day trying to recover from the overstimulation and impurity. This isn’t how I want to spend my Christmas. I don’t like the dreadful commercialisation of it, but I’m outnumbered, three against one. I wish I stayed at home on my own to be fair, but the girls would have been disappointed. How are you today? Okay I hope 😊🤗

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      4. You don’t need to preach to me about the commercialisation of Christmas. You know exactly where I stand on that front. The sad thing is that you can’t change the way other people feel about it and you feel obliged to get swept up in the shitstorm. It’ll all soon be over.
        I’m alright considering the amount of beer I consumed last night xxx

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      5. Lol 😆 My in laws are not big drinkers, christmas eve was more fun as that was at our house so we could have more than the one glass of champagne we were allocated with our meal 😒😴

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