Christmas past, Christmas present, Christmas future……

Christmas past – As we get older, we often reflect on the past, the traditions and the happy memories that go with them, so when thinking about Christmas past, what did your childhood Christmases look like? Do you agree that time often blurs our perceptions? It was always cold in my childhood around Christmas time, the carol singers met on the village green, my Gran made her own pork pies, stuffing, sausage meat, Christmas pudding, mince pie filling and pastry as well as the stunning Christmas cake centerpiece for tea. We always had a large cockerel, fresh from the farm. My Grandad had grown all of the accompaniments, the potatoes, carrots, parsnips, brussel sprouts, peas etc Our Christmas pudding always had sixpences in, and my Dad and Grandad always found them and £5 notes too!! We were open mouthed and definitely gobbled ours up to see what we’d found! The afternoon the whole family went a walk around the village, there were always our friends showing off their new bikes and prams!. Father Christmas always came to visit, all dressed in red, we’d all written our letters to him and posted them up the real chimney and open fire, we couldn’t wait, the days seemed endless and then, it was that magical morning of waking up, gingerly feeling for the stocking on the end of the bed, which always had an apple, satsuma and a few nuts!!!!!

YESSSSSS HE’S BEEN!!!! Waking up everyone else and delighting in our few gifts (No Argos book, or Smyths toys!) None of our presents were wrapped up, they were just put into small piles, none of which detracted from the magic. Christmas tea was a cold meat and salad buffet, with of course home-made pickles and chutneys, Christmas cracker, but I don’t recall what was in them apart from a hat and a joke – defiantly no red fish!!

Christmas present – Today’s Christmas looks somewhat different, from the run-up (starting in September!!) The Festive run up…..The many T.V adverts for the latest item, X Box, Play Station only £600.00!!! All the pressure to be the same as their friends, as well as on your budget. The Best Present……… The buying of the mountains of food in every guise, just in case that army of people should maybe arrive at your door on Christmas Day! The mince pies/after dinner mints/celebrations/heroes/roses and of course quality street you’ve bought well in advance (to be organised and prepared) OOOPSY made a start on them when no-one was looking!! In fact the advertising regarding Christmas food is quite obscene, as basically it’s a roast dinner (albeit with extra trimmings) The children want to disappear to their rooms and play on the latest game/x box/play station. No time to play the traditional family board games Bored Games?? Haven’t got a Cluedo?? The leftovers seem to linger forever, often due to our over zealous catering and how much more food we bought- just in case-.Christmas leftovers

Since launching meetings we have seen year on year increased success on the sales as our members have been more mindful when shopping and preparing for Christmas, in fact reducing the average weight gain to around 1lb!! Proof, if indeed it was needed, how beneficial attending weekly meetings can make!!

Christmas future – Considering the trend for fast food and the lifestyle of the up coming generation, it’s difficult to imagine what their Christmas will look like, possibly no shopping other than the internet for presents. Tapping the app to order food in????? Limiting the number of guests in order to keep the cost down? So much for quality family time.

Speculating on what a future Christmas could look like is a bit of a fruitless task, YOU will determine what the PRESENT Christmas will look like, and by continuing to attend your weekly meetings helps to shape those behaviour changes and enables you to make wiser choices, stay in control and be more successful, then here’s to an amazing Christmas 2024!!!

Christmas comes, and Christmas goes. But every extra mouthful will always show!!

jackie and sonya