Twas the week before Christmas

And all through the town, streets were sometimes flooded and nary a shopper around. With all due apologies to Clement Clarke Moore for appropriating his Christmas classic, this is not a tale of reindeers prancing or stockings by the fireplace.If you're looking for a tale of Christmas wonder and happiness, skip this part and scroll down to the lighter side. It can safely be said, that I now share more in common with the Christmas grinch than I do otherwise. And this is why....

On the dark side....

People who do not say thank you. Even as we were entreated to tighten our belts my workplace decided to distribute polo shirts this year to all staff. You can guess who was part of that debacle. To man, all the originating department has gotten is mostly complaints, hardly a word of thanks to the hard working staff who took the time to make sure that everyone was accounted for, that shirts were individually labelled according to people's requests and delivered. This is not their job but they did it anyway. The sad thing is, we did not expect anyone to thank us because it never happens as is routinely proven every time, all we ever get is a litany of how awful/stupid/useless we are, never mind this is something you had no expectation of receiving and you got it without having to contribute. Fortunately, there are a few whose parents obviously taught them some manners, we can count them on our fingers, they were the few that did say thanks and it was hugely appreciated.

I constantly hear people talking about their "Christian" beliefs or nature. It never ceases to amaze me that a lot of these so-called Christian folk are the same ones who bitch the loudest when asked to contribute to a can drive or anything. The same people who will come around and ask you again and again for their children's raffle or whatever, when asked, their response usually is, I gave to something two months ago. I must remember that one for future use. Grinch behaviour coming alive here.

Two vagrants have taken up residence on the pavement outside the bakery that I sometimes buy my bread from, lately they've been joined by a bitch, heavily pregnant with pup who spends time laying on her side watching the world go by. Anyone who reads this space can tell you, there is a dog shaped hole in my life occupied by my furry sidekick. If you're involved with me, you must love dogs because if it came down to you or the dog, you'd get the boot if you couldn't live with him. Back to the two homeless men, one of whom spends an enormous amount of time scraping at the skin on his leg and watching it bleed.

I pity the poor girl in the bakery shop trying to stay afloat, they tend to put customers off even with the heavy application of raw disinfectant that she douses the place with every morning. The two hit up customers to, "put up ah dolla so we culd buy a lil someting". Here's the thing, I pass them as I walk to and from my workplace, where I go to earn money. I am not opposed to feeding the hungry or giving charity, but on average, every day if I go out, I'm accosted by between five to a dozen denizens for money. I'm not kidding. Anyway, it hit me, I'd rather go in and buy the DOG something than give those two any of my money. They're both stronger than me, get up and go do something. Hell, I have problems too. Of course, if we had functioning Social services in this country, maybe we wouldn't have so many people domiciled on the streets. So my Christmas wish, is that someone, please, look after the homeless.

On the light side....

twas the week before Christmas, and the pointsettias were abloom, their spiky red leaves cheerily brightening the usually sombre space. Though the skies were rainy, inside we were snug, with our ponche de creme to warm us, some christmas music to sing along with, someone brought the butter cookies and another some chocolate bombs and all was good.

We ate together, we told stories, for a brief moment we forgot all the running and complaints, tomorrow was another day. In the end, it's all good.

So, from me to you, happy holidays.