Chris Northover
So, Christmas has come and gone. Our bank accounts have taken a hiding and, in many cases, our nerves are just short of breaking.
In fact, nationally, the only ones smiling are the shopkeepers who have benefited from increased sales. So ... was it worth it?
The Northovers had a very quiet - almost subdued - Christmas, with few trips downtown into the madness. A small meal with family and a pleasant dinner with neighbours; with no hangovers to speak of.
You could say that it was a very successful Christmas.
A few years ago, some friends of ours told the husband's family that they were spending Christmas with the wife's family, and told the wife's family that they were spending Christmas with the husband's family.
They then pulled the blinds and didn't answer the phone for five days. They read books, watched videos, and ate very well without gluttony.
In terms of stress avoided, theirs was a very successful Christmas - no arguments with drunken second cousins; no unwanted gifts; no stress choosing gifts for others who they realised, at the last minute, they hardly knew and possibly even didn't like very much.
So what's it all about? Why do we willingly do this to ourselves each year?
Jesus was probably born in late September. The twenty-fifth of December was the date of pagan festivals timed to fall close to the longest night of the year, so it was purloined by the early Christian church in an attempt to capture the people who would otherwise have been worshipping their pagan gods at that time.
Father Christmas is largely a fiction based on St Nicholas, an early Christian cleric known for distributing gifts to the poor, particularly children, whom he was rumoured to know if they had been good or not.
Saint Nicholas (Santa Claus) was brought to life by the advertising people at Coca-Cola in the 1930s, complete with red suit, white beard, and laughing fat tummy - another triumph for American commerce, along with St Valentine's day. But wait, there's more ...
This is, I suspect, the core of the misery so many feel at Christmas - the childhood memories of happiness, the magic of Christmas grottos and the presents on Christmas Day all shattered by the heartless hurry experienced as an adult from the minute the first Christmas music is played in the shops.
The unmet but unrealistic expectations. The false sentiment of people who don't even acknowledge each other during the year. The pressure to spend. The pressure to enjoy ourselves. The pressure to drink so you can enjoy yourself. The waste.
We may be doing this all wrong. It is right to celebrate the birth of Jesus; good to have a focus for meeting with our families in a spirit of goodwill and giving; and to have time off with our families to relax.
In our family we have long had an understanding that we won't give presents except to the little kids. Others agree to only give a gift of small value to one other person - name to be drawn out of a hat.
The key is low key: no hassle, no rush, no large amounts buying presents which serve no purpose except to inflate someone's pride.
A Christmas meal doesn't have to be a big production. The purpose surely is to get together in congenial surroundings and company. No need to impress - perhaps a simple, no-fuss barbecue may suffice?
Join with me and take a stand for relaxed Christmases, with true peace on earth and goodwill toward men. Before you take in that exchange card.