Dampened Spirit

I have heard news this week that has dampened my Christmas spirit a little bit. It's made me think though, about how hard this time of year is for some people and how we should make the most of everything that we have. Apart from this news, I have been gently easing myself into the festive period. I had a great session at a care home and we had a lot of fun and I've had the Christmas tunes on. December is going to be a bit of a lull month for me as a lot of the homes had the whole of their Decembers booked up before I'd really got started with the business. I'm planning and booking for January now. One thing I am really grateful for is that I have managed to leave my old job before all this Christmas madness and it means I should be able to enjoy Christmas this year and I won't be getting gradually more and more harassed until I have the big, two days off. I haven't felt so pleased for a while. I'm looking forward to a Christmas with the family, which is much more likely now I don't have only two days to do it in. I really can't believe that everyone has become so scrooge-like now that even boxing day is being touted as a work day. Give shop workers a break! If you expect them in every day for prolonged hours (like my firm did) for the whole week coming up to Christmas, then you can at least expect to let them have at least two days to recover. Also, if people have Christmas day off, then some people agree to go in for extra pay on the boxing day to sort the shops out, as they're still devastated from pre chistmas. By opening on boxing day, you're effectively denying someone Christmas because of an all consuming desire to shop. It's nonsense. If you're that obsessed by shopping you really need to find something to do with your life.