It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like...

*Tumbleweed blows past*

Yes, the Pod's been pretty quiet lately. A lot of blogs are right about now. That's usually because their owners are on hiatus. One surfs over to a blog last updated in late November, and imagines its writer merrily trimming a tree in a cosy room beautifully lit by a crackling fireplace, whilst rosy cheeked children look on with delight; or else on holiday, floating on a lilo in a resort swimming pool, thinking "My blog? The hell with that."

That's not the case with me, I'm afraid. I have bloggers block. Now, as you have probably worked out by now, I don't work very hard on my blog posts, but that's because for the better ones, the idea will pop into my head at random, shortly followed by a few witty remarks, and all I have to to is transcribe it and pad it out a little.

But that hasn't happened recently, and I blame Christmas. Apart from the fact that it's socially acceptable to drink a lot more than usual, there's not a single thing about Xmas I like. I wouldn't mind if the rest of the world would just let me ignore the whole thing, but they won't. Everywhere you turn, from decorations in the shops to strangers on the bus asking what your plans are, Xmas is shoved down your throat (and not a good shove, with eggnog, which no one in Australia really drinks anyway).

I often think that Christmas is massive case of society kidding itself. Xmas is a hard time for many people. I'm not just talking about the obvious ones, like the homeless and the recently bereaved, but also the parents adding up the bills and wondering how the hell they're going to pay for their kids presents; the recently seperated couple who have to play happy families at the extended family gathering; the people who have lots of friends but no one close enough to spend the big day with...but the thing is, no one will admit it. Everyone puts on a happy face and makes the appropriate noises. Even I do it. Normally these days I'm a pretty cheerful sort of person, but Xmas is a time of pretty acute misery for me...and I just can't explain it to anyone.

Wouldn't it be a lot more refreshing if everyone stopped pretending? If people stopped feeling obligated to visit family they don't even like much, to spend money they don't have, to act like everything's just delightful, because it's Christmas?

It won't happen though, and it probably makes everyone feel worse. Last night I had a phone conversation where we discussed Christmas, and by the time I got off the phone I felt drained and fractious and depressed (though that wasn't entirely because of Xmas). I would have sold Xander to Satan for a beer, but having been overdoing it lately I instead ate a whole packet of fruit and nut biscuits and went grumpily to bed.

So that's why no good posts are coming to me these days. Still, I'm sure I can throw together some lame year-in-review thing next week to tide me over till inspiration returns.