Walking the Tightrope: Christmas Cards
"How I envy those super-organised people who buy their cards and wrapping paper at the January sales and order their organic hand reared turkey in August,'' says Sally Codman.
Thank goodness for keyboards. I'm suffering from a severe case of writer's cramp, caused by signing all the Christmas Cards at the last minute. If I had to hand-write this column it would be next year before I'd finished!
Every year I promise myself we'll get ready for Christmas nice and early, so we can sit back and enjoy it. Every year I break this promise and Christmas Day finds us ready but exhausted.
How I envy those super-organised people who buy their cards and wrapping paper in the January sales and order their organic hand-reared turkey in August. They make a Christmas Present List in January, so that when they spot the gift that's 'perfect for Auntie Ivy' whilst on their holidays in July, they go ahead and buy. They've finished their Xmas shopping by August, not for them the queues, traffic jams and last minute, frenzied dashes, around over-crowded shops.
These people, who plan their lives ahead, instead of muddling along at the very last minute, decorate their homes and order new curtains in September, instead of wielding a paintbrush the week before Xmas. They keep Christmas-Books, in which they enter who-they-bought-what for the last fifty Xmases and send out their cards on December 1st.
The only time I ever tried this super-efficient and highly organised method of Christmas planning, I lost the cards and paper I'd bought in the January sales. And the year I wrapped everything early, instead of at Midnight on Christmas Eve, I forgot the all-important labels. Still, opening presents on a lucky-dip basis, can be quite exciting.
A friend of mine (bless her) puts my lack of organisational ability down to what she kindly calls 'artistic temperament'. Mr C puts it down to what he calls 'pratting about' but I know that it was all those years spent in the news rooms of local newspapers that ruined my long-term planning abilities.
When you spend years turning up for work, not knowing what you'll be doing, who you'll be seeing, or where you'll be going that day, it does tend to make you focus on what's in front of your nose, instead of what's around the next bend.
How I used to love the excitement of queuing up at the News Editor's desk, notebook and pen in hand, to discover which stories I'd be chasing that morning for that night's paper.
Afternoons were a little more laid back, but you didn't get much of an idea where you'd be, or whom you'd see, until the morning was over. Even if you did sneak a peek at the afternoon News Diary entries, there was always the chance they'd be shuffled and changed before jobs were finalised.
Yep, chasing the news was very exciting and great fun, but it ruins your forward-planning skills for life. Old habits really do die-hard and most journalists can't get round to sorting their stories, or their laundry, unless a deadline is looming. Then they get that rush of adrenaline and work like a maniac for a couple of hours to get the job done.
Running a newsroom on that basis works well most of the time. Running your life like that works okay if you're young, healthy and don't have other commitments. It doesn't work so well once you're married and a family comes along. You still put aside those hours for when the deadline looms - but other people and their lives get in the way.
This year, as always, I promised myself I'd start preparing for Christmas in September but as usual 'circumstances beyond my control' happened. Someone at work handed in his notice and for a few weeks my hours increased dramatically. Then another relative was in hospital, Mum hurt her leg and Eldest Daughter needed ferrying around prospective universities.
Then there were the hours spent discussing universities and courses, assisting in the preparation of UCAS forms and personal statements, not to mention the forms for Gap Year placements and interviews.
Sometimes, no amount of forward planning keeps you ahead of the game, you just have to run faster. So it looks as if I'll be wrapping most of those presents on Christmas Eve as usual, whilst downing the odd glass of wine accompanied by a few mince pies. Being mega-organised can get very boring, anyway!
