The gift of forward focus

When I was a kid I used to love Christmas and would get excited leading up to it; there's was weeks and weeks off school with awesome summer weather to enjoy and the entire time seemed really special. Of course, mum and dad would buy a present or two for us and we really looked forward to that. My parents didn't have a lot of money so it was a fairly low-key part of the season and that was ok, we all made up for that by enjoying the holiday season and spending time together. Overall though, I looked forward to it as there were so many possibilities.

Now, I'm not into Christmas at all.

I have no belief in the alleged religious reasons for Christmas and having no children means I don't have to make it a special time for them. I still get time off though, from work not school, and I love that aspect but I certainly don't feel any excitement at the prospect of Christmas. I know I'm not the only one who feels that way and was chatting with some other folks who agreed; it has become a massive commercial venture and seems more about spending money than spending time with family and friends for the simple joy if it; that's quite sad I think.

I have a Christmas tree inside my home each year and this year it's an Areca Palm (don't judge) because I couldn't be bothered putting up my artificial Christmas tree. It has coloured lights and decorations on it and my nephew @mrbonkers made some decorations and sent them down so they're hanging on it along with some tinsel also. I also have a Christmas wreath on my front door, mainly so I don't look like the fucken Christmas Grinch of the neighbourhood, and there's some other decorations scattered around the house. There's no presents though, nor will there be; I buy enough through the year and my partner and I are not into it, we don't need anything right now. Having said that, we're really looking forward to the time off together, we need that, and I've planned some legit meals, BBQ's and we're also going out a bit to catch up with a few friends. We'll read, watch shows, do a few days trips, play some games and spend time in the garden. It'll be a nice time I think.

With 2025 on the horizon we're more focused on the year ahead as we feel it may be a good one, that's the plan anyway, and are actively setting goals, planning to reach them, and putting things into place to have the best year possible...this time off work period is a great time to do that and that's filling me with an excitement of sorts because for various reasons 2025 is a pivotal year for us.

I remember my childhood with mixed feelings but this time of year was always a special time as I mentioned; I had that same feeling as now, of excitement, and had a forward focus much as I do now. It was a little less structured and, of course, based around a child's mind but it's nice to feel similar things now as an adult and it makes this time a special time all these years later.

This year, my gift to myself and partner is that we get to move forward into the new year together and with common goals and plans towards what is going to be a really nice future; I think that's a splendid gift.