IN CASE YOU have yet to be informed, today – in addition to being the shortest day of the year – is also Humbug Day.
Allow us to be the first to wish you a happy one!
Created to give a stressed-out public the opportunity to vent their various frustrations over the festive season before time is called at the strike of midnight to square your shoulders and soldier on, Humbug Day is the 24-hour antidote to excessive festive cheer.
Ostensibly, I like Christmas, but I often find the reality of the festive season at odds with the rose-tinted version of it we insist on perpetuating. Christmas can be anxiety- inducing, emotionally draining and – at times – hugely anti-climatic.
And as far as I’m concerned, it’s important to acknowledge these facts because it ultimately allows you to appreciate the highlights of the season a lot more readily.
Ignoring the various downsides of Christmas; excessive sweating in overlit (and overpriced) department stores, consistent bickering between family members, and impending panic over next month’s bank balance to name just three, is more draining than simply acknowledging them for the hellish things they are and moving on.
And yet, I’ve been met with bafflement at best, and daggers at worst, when I’ve ever attempted to initiate any type of conversation about Christmas which isn’t wholly positive.
I’ll be taking full advantage of Humbug Day – ranting over anything and everything Christmas-related if I see fit – because it ultimately allows me to take full advantage of the positives the festive season does bring.
But what about you? With just four days to go, do you see the benefit of celebrating what’s left of Humbug Day?
