The “silly season” is well and truly roaring into action, with events and parties and fairs and opportunities to spend lots of hard-earned cash flying at us from every hand. The commercialisation of Christmas is a global phenomenon and anyone with anything to sell jumps well and truly on the bandwagon. The spending and advertising frenzy does seem somewhat at odds with the simple life of Christ among the poor and down-trodden, and with a message that has absolutely nothing to do with the materialism observed in the modern world, especially at this particular time of year.
The tradition of gift-giving at Christmas, while fun and exciting for children, does seem to go right over the top these days. Many already privileged children with far more toys and trinkets than they can ever possibly enjoy fully are totally inundated with yet more of these, while for the grown-ups, gift-giving has for many turned more into a social obligation than something that comes right from the heart. Our family decided years ago on a mutual moratorium on individual Christmas gifts, except for the children. Apart from doing a small “Secret Santa” operation if we happen to be together on Christmas day (not always the case) with a monetary ceiling and for fun, we avoid the commercial frenzy when it comes to the adults.
It is sad that Christmas can be a rather stressful time for many people. It is laden with many layers of expectation, tends to bring old psychological wounds back to the surface, is very hard for the bereaved, and with its emphasis on family bonds and togetherness reminds people whose families are not picture perfect — when it comes down to it, how many are, anyway? — of perceived defects, deficiencies and deficits. Totally abandoning one’s often unrealistic expectations of the festive season, instead viewing this as a lovely time to relax and see friends, or travel and see the country, can take the tension and stress out of Christmas. Rather than attributing an exaggerated measure of importance to these few days of the year for family bonding, perhaps we should simply resolve that taking time out for family is a year round affair!
I love to take full advantage of the longish break over the festive season when many companies close to go and explore one of our national parks, and sometimes, family members join me too. This year however, after an awful lot of gallivanting around with trips away, I’m spending Christmas on home ground. We rarely make the time just to “chill out” at home, and catch up with family and friends at a leisurely pace instead of squeezing a little bit of time in here and there.
Families can use Christmas break to run for fitness As a family, we are planning to do lots of running! We and various friends registered for the Two Oceans Half Marathon on November 1, when 10 000 places opened up at 10am for anyone who had run this race before. Within four hours, over 4 500 of these had gone, and the last place was snapped up on November 5! A further 6 000 places will open to novices in January. I’m delighted to have been seeded. Previously this required proof of a sub-2 hour-half marathon, a claim to fame I’ve never achieved, (though I did complete one in two hours and half a minute this year!)
For 2013, after many comments from runners in this year’s edition about the insane congestion at the race’s start, now that the field has been extended to 16 000 (when I first ran it there were 9 000) the organisers have tackled this problem head on, and have lowered the requirement for seeding in category D to a sub two hours 20 minutes half. This has automatically shifted me out of the back runners in E based on my time this year, and should make the start less congested. Organisers have also decided to send the E runners out 10 minutes after the rest. This is the first time registration has opened to previous runners before novices. The speed at which the 10 000 places filled has broken every previous record, demonstrating the ever increasing popularity of this festive annual running event. So team runs have kicked off for us and our gaggle of friends who’ll be heading Cape Town way come March next year. For those who find it hard to get motivated, pre-arranged mutual sessions are definitely the way forward, and fun besides.
Meantime, I’m also trying to squeeze in the training for the Europcar 20 Miler (32km) on December 2 , which I’ve never run before, and which is challenging at this hectic time of year! This starts out on the Shamva Road at Enterprise Club, ends at Old Georgians and is uphill much of the way.
Verandah gallery exhibition on Today from 9.30am to 1 pm, go to the Verandah Gallery at 16 Woodholme Road to enjoy Paintings and Pimms. Proceeds go to Emerald Hill Children’s Home and School for the Deaf and there’ll be lots of small and medium-sized paintings for sale by talented local artists. Then this afternoon, enjoy Lorna Kelly as she presents Mozart Magic, a programme of operatic and concert arias, duets, trios and quartets from Mozart’s greatest works with John Kelly on clarinet and Ruth Chard on piano, at 4pm in Greencroft Trinity Church, Stoney Road. Meanwhile, the Marden Singers are busily rehearsing their annual Christmas treat of the past 36 years, Handel’s Messiah, which is presented in Arundel School Chapel at 6pm on 17th and 3pm on November 18.
