Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells...

So it's almost Christmas and all around the festivities are starting to kick off in full force. London is something of a paradox at this time of year, as you have the dazzling Christmas lights and all around people are bundled up in scarves and woolly hats to keep the chill out. Places like Starbucks and Coffee Republic overflow with bodies trying to warm up with wonderful Christmas variations of coffee and tea while outside clouds of steam arise from the mouths of all the Christmas shoppers. Beautiful lights adorn shop fronts and shopping streets, and places like Harrods and Hamleys are transformed into Winter Wonderlands. For a while you can almost feel the spirits of the city lifting at the prospect of a cheerful holiday... until you step off the pavement and into a shop. Suddenly all Christmas joy evaporates into a dog-eat-dog shopping frenzy with people pushing and shoving to get at the best bargains and gifts, and suddenly Christmas commercialism is as evident as a slap in the face. Forgotten are the quiet traditions and the simplicity of family time and holidays with friends.
And yet, in spite of the growing 'negativity' connected with the yule season, I cannot help but feel a touch of magic in the air. There's something beautiful about a season that is traditionally about togetherness. About sharing laughter and food, about singing carols and about reconciling our differences, even for just a short moment in time. I find it encouraging that we can, indeed, set apart our differences and get along in the view of something that goes beyond us. But mostly, I love the fact that Christmas gives us good reason to be children again! To give in to those playful desires that we tend to suppress for the rest of the year. We can eat and sing and play and eat and sing and play and all of this unashamedly, because, after all, it's Christmas, and Christmas only comes once a year.