Christmas

Every year, christmas comes around, and every year, I get as excited as the next person. The joys of putting up the lights on the house, the fun of untangling the lights for the house (he says getting annoyed at how messed up the lights are), the last minute rush to buy presents for the people you forgot were coming to see you so you thought you could get away without getting them anything, the buying of the christmas tree, and having to look at every single christmas tree in the area, then buying the first one anyway (I blame my mother for this, every year, I say, "let's just get this one, it'll save us going everywhere else to just come back to get the same tree", not that it makes a difference to what happens. Oh well), the finding that one light doesn't work on the tree lights, and having to try and find which light you need to change (this often happens in my household, and it takes hours), decorating the inside of the house with tinsle, star things that hang from the ceiling, etc. The wrapping of presents (as a man, this is something I struggle with, whereas my girlfriend actually enjoys wrapping presents, and doesn't see how men cannot wrap presents. I don't understand this either, so don't ask), and of course the horror of the turkey, having to order it, which is what my family does, thank goodness, otherwise we would have no food on christmas day. And then having to get up far, far too early to cook it, which I often get roped into doing, not that it makes a difference to what time I get up, with me being 15, I wake up at 3 o'clock in the morning anyway. And of course, the relatives. Having to figure out where everybody will sleep. Fortunatly, we have a spare room, so we just stick them in there. But when more people come over, we start having problems, and more often than not, it is my room that gets used as a second spare room, not only for people to sleep in, but also for all the stuff that was in the first spare room that now has to be moved, and we couldn't just put it in the loft, oh goodness no, we might need that chess set that's never been opened. Anyway, enough of me ranting about how things go wrong before christmas. The real fun begins on christmas day. The getting up very early, annoying the parents by running into their room at 7 o'clock in the morning, yelling "OMG! SANTA'S BEEN!" Yes, that is what I do. I'm a teenager, ok? Anyway, after the stockings, and the random little things in there that will be lost by the new year, have been seen, we all charge down the stairs, often ending in someone getting hurt, often me. Then we crash into the living room and stand there gawping at the presents under the tree. Then we remember that we should probably let the dogs out of the kitchen, and we do. The dogs, being clever as they are, boundi into the living room, crashing into everything, and everyone, making a special effort to destroy the tree. After the pandemonium of that, we settle down, so to speak. Who can settle down on christmas morning? Anyway, we then procede to sort all of the presents under the tree into piles for everybody. It's a tradition. Then we open our presents, one at a time, going around the room in a circle, and at this point you realise that you've either forgotten a very important present for someone, or that you've simply been an idiot and left it upstairs in the hiding place, where you put it so no one could find it, and you have, of course, forgotten where it was, and start to panic. You run off, and run around the house muttering to yourself, trying to figure out where you put the presents, and when you're really worried, you see them, sat right there in front of you. Every year this happens to me. Anyway, then the present unwrapping continues. All those presents you spent so long trying to wrap neatly and well, and in a few seconds the wrapping paper has been destroyed. I don't know why I bother. Anyway, as you're going around the room, unwrapping the presents, you see the joy of getting something cross the persons face, and you realise it was all worth it. After that, it is time for lunch. The turkey has been cooked, the sprouts are on the table in their little bowl, that will stay untouched for the course of the day, and of course all the other trimings that you know and love. After lunch, it's time to sit back, and enjoy the presents that you unwrapped, as well as everyone else's presents. And the cracker jokes get told, everyone laughs, even though the jokes are just terrible, the paper hats are on heads, the funny toys from the crackers are left on the dinner table, because most of the time, they are completely useless, although, every year, I always find a good use for them. You sit there rather full, and feeling tired. At about 6 o'clock the television gets turned on for all the christmas specials of the shows you like to watch. Doctor Who, the point that my dad goes behind the sofa, a long lasting joke from his childhood. And of course anything else that looks any good will be watched, not with any great interest. Then, it is time for dinner. This is where the christmas ham comes out, and everybody congratulates the cook, even if the only stuck it in the oven for a few hours. And then, for pudding, my famous trifile, which I make every year, and is always very nice, if I don't say so myself. And then, you start to feel very tired. Your eyelides grow heavy, and you fall asleep on the sofa. And then, one at a time, everyone starts making their way to bed, often earlier than they would usually go to bed, even though they haven't done anything during the day. Doing nothing can be very tiring. But what I want this year is for evrybody to just stop for a minute on christmas day, and just think about those people who are less fortunate then you, those people who have no one to share christmas with, the sick people who are in hospital over the holiday period, and the people who have no homes to stay warm in during the long, cold winters nights. For this christmas I want people who are sick with no cure to be able to be cured. I want children with no families, to be adopted, I want people to never have to worry about food and shelter and heat. I know it is hard for people to think about the people who have less then them, but if you are well off, please, try to do something about this. Even if it is only giving a few pounds to charity, or giving a homeless person you pass on the street some loose change. It might not seem like a lot to you, but for them it could mean a meal, or a place to stay the night. It would make their christmas. These people deserve to have a chirstmas to remember, not another one to forget. Thank you.