So this is Christmas

So this is Christmas? Families gathered around the log fire, watching Hogfather on Sky One, being merry and getting drunk on Buck Fizz or Egg Nog...

Except it's not!

No, instead it's families sitting apart, arguing about what to watch on TV or complaining that they can't get a go on the computer, mum's slaving away in the kitchen cooking a meal that only the parents are going to really appreciate and Dad's so drunk on cheap whiskey he spends all the time off he's got sleeping, maybe with the Sunday times on his chest who knows.

I remember the good old days, when Christmas was exciting, it was a time of getting presents, a time of being with those you loved, a fun time, a happy time. A time when Old Nick was real and the question of where all the presents came from never came up.

Oh yes I remember the old times....

You have to really question the age we live in when one of your own family has to buy their own present because they won't let you know what they want. Call me old fashioned but, "Here's the money for your present that you've already brought yourself" doesn't quite seem as Christmassy as, "Here's the gift I picked out for you, I love you, merry Christmas". Maybe it's time for me to get the old suede patches stitched onto my tops, get the paper out, sit down and just let it all pass me by, maybe one day someone will ask what it was like when I was young...

I can rant on about the old days; all I need now is that old man smell, some really big glasses, possibly a pipe, a paper, some slippers and that one chair that old people always sit in.

And I've not even seen the Coke Cola ad yet, with the trucks coming over the hill...

This is Benji Dude, asking you take a walk in my shoes back in the old days...