Christmas comes (too bloody) early

Let me start off by saying that according to our schedule for this year, I was supposed to be writing the endpiece for the December issue. I already had in mind a quick and easy text about Santa, Christmas decorations and the snow - and how much we had all longed to see this. It was to be a concise piece about what we were hoping to find under the Christmas tree and it would have simply written itself… if it was going to appear in the December issue. So when I heard that my column had been moved to November instead, I was hit by a wave of panic. How could I write about Christmas in that month’s issue?? I needed to think up something else and get it written out QUICK! You’re not allowed to do stuff like this to me, Mr Editor! [My apologies, but sometimes such things can’t be avoided – Ed.] However, it turns out that I needn’t have despaired. Walking round my local shops at the end of October convinced me that the subject of the Christmas season – with all its lights, the Christmas trees and those carols blaring out over the tannoy – is actually already incredibly topical, even if looking out of the window it looks almost like summer and the thermometer is still managing to hit 20°C. But going into any supermarket, you can already feel the seasonal goodwill and get in the mood for those wonderful December days! [Told you so! – Ed.]

In my home town near Lublin (some people call this region Podlasie, although modern geography now seems to disagree), the Christmas tree would only go up on Christmas eve. Decorating it used to be a family tradition, (although, when no one was looking, my mum would always rearrange the tinsel and baubles put up by the children, which she thought were all out of place). When I went off to university, I found that I would usually return home on the last day before Christmas and the tree was often already in place. As I walked into the house, it would be filled with the smell of the world’s finest Christmas bigos [Polish cabbage and meat stew] as made by my mum, and everyone would be shouting: “Come on! Christmas is starting!” This is something I no longer hear. For quite a few years now I’ve had the feeling that starting Christmas so early just kills the magic and I get really angry when, around November 1st, the candles are shunted into a side-aisle in the supermarket to make way for the Santa chocolates.

Last year things were somehow easier, because the Christmas rush began even earlier. In those darkest days of the pandemic, everyone seemed to long for this traditionally carefree time – we just wanted to sit down to Christmas dinner as quickly as possible and put on the Christmas playlist on YouTube. Some of us were also worried about the prospect of another lockdown in November or December, when it would be much harder to buy presents or the Christmas tree. All of this resulted in a rush of Christmas preparations that boosted e-commerce sales and profits by a few hundred percent. Since then we’ve learnt to live with Covid to some extent and no one is seems so concerned when the number of cases begins to rise once again. Nevertheless, Christmas, in my opinion, is still getting underway just a little bit too early this year, as the shops have still to sell us all the usual merch for Teacher’s Day and Halloween – and let’s not forget about All Saint’s Day, Independence Day and St. Barbara’s Day – otherwise known as Miner’s Day in Poland!

The Covid situation has also turned Eurobuild’s calendar upside down. The Christmas season used to start just after our Gala, which is why as soon as it finished the entire Eurobuild team demanded a holiday to go home to make the pierogi and stir the Christmas bigos. Unfortunately, this time the boss wasn’t going to fall for this. We’ve still got two months of solid work ahead of us as well as two big conferences. We’ll just have to make do with Christmas movies on Netflix and looking for reindeer socks online.

I don’t know if I’m the first to say this, and you don’t mind, but… Merry Christmas!