I'm not a Christmas man.
The forced jollity and 'all join in' atmosphere don't sit well with my character. Amusingly, whilst all that ghastly commercial bollocks is going on, throughout the nation drunken violence and interspousal savagery levels hit an annual high, the streets of provincial towns are awash with blood and vomit, and burglary & theft go through the roof (rather than Father Christmas through the chimney). Everything that is unpleasant about modern society comes to a head and I think it's repulsive.

People of limited means get caught in the media-stirred frenzy of retail, and the pressure to smother your friends and families in an ever-growing mountain of unneeded and barely wanted gifts is unbearable for many. Children are bullied by their horrible peers and consequently bully their parents, the implication being that if you don't succumb to this shit you don't love your children enough. Children barely old enough to know what's going on are buried under mountains of vulgar plastic shit big enough to last them for years...most of it forgotten or broken in days.

Luckily for me my family are a restrained and genteel bunch. We've never gone in for the gaudy crassness of high street Christmas. We all just meet up and have a nice meal with a few drinks and exchange small presents. I'm not being smug about this - it's actually enormously dull but at least the first six months of next year won't be a struggle because we've ruined ourselves trying to create a mythical 'good time' for a couple of days. My daughter will be appreciating next year's Christmas more keenly but this year I can guarantee you that my ex's pikey family will be inundating her with armfuls of cheap and nasty tat better off in landfill. She already has more toys at 16 months than I'd acquired by the age of about 7 and I do not approve.

BAH FUCKING HUMBUG.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Tue 1 Dec 2009, 9:00, 3 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

I don't watch television
and I don't have very much money. I have a George Bailey Christmas and I bloody love it.
( Peej, Tue 1 Dec 2009, 9:01, Reply)

So,
what's not to like?
( Bartleby A dead man on vacation, Tue 1 Dec 2009, 9:08, Reply)

I quite like getting things for my family
don't go outside our means though

mostly it is a meet up for a good meal and a drink and the opportunity to get something you would like but wouldn't buy for yourself.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 1 Dec 2009, 9:08, Reply)

alright vipros

( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Tue 1 Dec 2009, 9:11, Reply)

alright No3L
what's up?

a present I ordered for my bro just turned up. the box is twice the size it needed to be to hold the item. stupid fucking companies.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 1 Dec 2009, 9:16, Reply)

I'm fly, honky.
Sup with that packaging beeyatch? And how goes your musical masterpiece?
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Tue 1 Dec 2009, 9:18, Reply)

it's still almost finished
there are a couple of minor tweaks. need to remove some phaser that my mate inexplicably put on the drums, and fade the whole thing to static.

then it needs the levels all sorting, bouncing down, and then mastering. unfortunately this means listening to it all through 3 times in a row, which will take over an hour and a half...

going round tonight to listen to the progress on part 2 though :-D
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 1 Dec 2009, 9:20, Reply)

Sweet.
You'll have to bung a copy in the post when it's done.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Tue 1 Dec 2009, 9:24, Reply)

yeah I will do

( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 1 Dec 2009, 9:25, Reply)