staff stories : our least Christmas-ey christmases
Christmas is just days away, and as the festive season reaches its climax, the Lip HQ started thinking about our least Christmas-ey Christmases ever.
Jess Barlow, Web Editor
My least Christmas-ey Christmas was the year I found out that Santa wasn’t real.
On Christmas Eve, my ten-year-old sister led my seven-year-old self down the hallway to peer through the Venetian doors at the Christmas tree (now, until this point I had 100% believed that Santa came through the window my Dad always left open, ate the carrot sticks and cookies I left for him and then departed after delivering my presents). While my sister eagerly waited for reality to slam-dunk its way into my life, I was eagerly anticipating Santa’s certain arrival so that I could prove her wrong.
Instead I watched my parents sleepily wander into the room and grab our empty Santa sacks before stumbling out again. “See?” My sister prodded me with her finger. “Just wait. They’ll be back in a second.” Despite the obvious evidence, I still couldn’t quite believe my eyes as sure enough, my parents returned minutes later with armfuls of presents. As Dad passed the table he picked up the plate of carrots and cookies and tipped them into the bin on his way back to bed.
In an instant, years of magic were destroyed.
Christmas has never been the same.
Emma Koehn, Staff Writer
A chicken sandwich and a Marshmallow Mrs. Claus, 30,000 feet in the air. The funny thing about Christmas on an aeroplane is that you anticipate more festive cheer than there actually is. Some tinsel around your seat edge, perhaps, the opportunity to watch It’s a Wonderful Life on a screen the size of a postcard… The year I spent eight hours on a budget airline, though, there was no tinsel. My family and I were trying a round about route to Christchurch for a long awaited holiday. The weirdest part about being stuck in a metal machine in the sky over Christmas day is that there’s no discernible difference between it and any other day of the year, except everyone around you is locked in anticipation for meeting their loved ones. There’s something so illicit about spending time in an airport on Christmas morning. Like you’re stuck inside a shopping centre after hours. Time takes a break and limbo sets in. This Christmas had the bonus of my family either side of me, seat-belted in and forced to communicate. Cheer on the 25th in an aeroplane is about connecting with your closest friends and family. Outside of an aeroplane, people probably seek out the same.
Erin Stewart, Staff Writer
My least Christmas-ey Christmas is this Christmas. There are a number of factors which make this so. Firstly, I’m moving to a new city in February, so the ordinary excitement of presents frankly isn’t so exciting. Usually I love possessions as much as the staunchest capitalist, but now that I’m thinking about how I have to pack up my various things, the thought of getting more is exhausting. Besides, there isn’t anything I want. When I was little my parents used to get me to circle the products in the toy catalogues I DIDN’T want, because doing so would be quicker than circling all the things I did want. But now that I have the newest shiny white iThingy and most of the appliances I could ever ask for, literally the best Christmas presents for me would be typically seen as being not very thoughtful gifts – chocolate, socks, and cash.
In any case, these are not gifts which legitimately cause the excited anticipation I felt as a greedy child. Secondly, because the weather has been rainy and miserable, and Christmas has been advertised in shops since September, it doesn’t ‘feel’ like Christmas. It feels roughly like September. Thirdly, since remembering, after a whole lifetime of forgetting, ‘the true meaning of Christmas’ – which is, of course, the pagan celebration of the middle of winter – the inappropriateness of the whole Christmas-ritual in Australia is really starting to get to me. I mean, roasting a turkey all day long and decorating your house in fake snow? Really? We’re not the Northern hemisphere, you know. It just doesn’t make sense to feel Christmas-ey right now.
Dunja Nedic, Managing Editor
My family’s not big on Christmas. This is partly because my parents grew up celebrating Orthodox Christmas so December 25th means about as much to them as cricket does to me, and partly because we’re lazy. So really, just about every one of my Christmases has lacked Christmas-ness. But probably the only one that’s worth writing about is the one I spent in Vegas.
I was on exchange in the US that year, and I, along with a few other exchange students (who were also sans family) decided to have an antithetical Christmas and spend it in the most superficial place on Earth. And to prove it, we were ripped off: a woman gave us a very convincing spiel about buying some wristbands that would get us free entry and drinks in about a million clubs. This was a lie, but we got festive (read: drunk) and forgot about it.
Courtney Dawson, Film Editor
Luckily I don’t have any terrible Christmas stories that I can recall (yet), but one of my guilty pleasures is Christmas films. I grew up watching so many that I’ve come to appreciate ‘Christmas Spirit’, and as film editor I’ve decided to use this space to make note of my top five favourite Christmas films, which should instill some Christmas cheer if you’re ever having an un-Chrismas-ey Christmas!
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) a classic.
Black Christmas (1974) for horror fans out there (this is also recognised as the first ever slasher film).
Home Alone (1990) Macaulay Culkin seeking revenge. Enough said.
Christmas Vacation (1989) This is sure to make you laugh out loud.
Love Actually (2003) a romance with an all star cast.
Happy Viewing and Happy Christmas!
Zoya Patel, Editor-in-chief
Yeah, my family never do Christmas, so I’m basically spoiled for choice right now. My favourite Christmases have usually been spent either in Fiji where I was born, in the sweltering heat, watching Bollywood movies and eating fried chicken and Peanut Ruffs (the best junk food ever), or in New Zealand, with scores of family and usually with traditional Indian food and far too many children running around.
But really, spending time with family is supposedly what Christmas is all about, so despite the lack of Hallmark-approved decorations and gift-giving, I still feel like I get to have a proper Christmas most years.
Be it conventional or not, Christmas-ey or Jingle-free, may your holiday season be wonderful, safe, and merry!
