Getting there ...

It takes a while to get into the Xmas mood.

There is a bah&humbug phase to get through. This phase is mainly characterised by a refusal to see how any joy can be extracted from a festival which is so focused on commercial exploitation. Other characteristics include denial that anything special is going on, lack of engagement in any decision making process around purchase of gifts and emphasis on the disruption caused to ordinary life over an unnecessarily extended period of time.

I operate well in this phase and am still there. Seeing this tree reminded me that is only a phase I am going through.

The end of the is phase will be marked by a realisation that whatever I might feel about it, Xmas will happen and that, further, many folks will enjoy it. I will go into a well-its-going-to-happen transition before the lets-make-the-best-of-it phase.