The Retirement Newsletter: Getting ready for Christmas
Issue Number: -7.5 — Chores and Traditions
Welcome
Welcome to issue -7.5 — Getting the Christmas chores done and thinking about Christmas traditions.
This is my second Christmas edition — the other two being Issue Number: -110 — Preparations for the holiday season and Issue Number: -57 — It can’t be Christmas?
In issue -110, I gave some tips that covered health (food poisoning and colds), money and travel, and I wrote about one of my Christmas traditions, queuing at the butchers for the Christmas meat order.
In issue -57, I was busy reflecting on how my Christmases will change once I retire, the dangers of hot-water bottles, and why you should check the age of your bottle. (See Issue -58: Would it be possible to turn being a couch potato into a side-hustle? for how to check your hot water bottle.)
This year, it is Christmas Past, Christmas Now, and Christmas Future.
Christmas
Christmas, like everything, changes as you age. Things change as life changes.
Christmas Past
As a kid, Christmas started in October, when I would visit one of my grandparents to help stir the Christmas pudding and cake mix, to make a wish, and get good luck. My gran would then feed the cake alcohol for the next few months before icing.
Christmas as a kid was simple. I went to bed on Christmas Eve; I didn’t sleep and got up at 4 am (much to the annoyance of my parents) and went downstairs to open my presents.
As a child, I did not know about all the work and effort my parents put into making Christmas special. I knew nothing about the family negotiations that started in October about who goes where for Christmas. Christmas was just fun, fun, fun.
Christmas was the time of presents and parties with my family. The time of seeing Father Christmas in a local store. And waiting for him to come by one evening on a float with Christmas music blaring, raising money for local charities.
As I got older and into my teens, I started attending parties at friends’ houses and through school and clubs, of which I was a member. I was still blissfully unaware of all the hard work that went into Christmas.
In my late teens and early 20s, I started to understand what needed to come together to make Christmas. Christmases were still great, but now there was work involved. And then I started my first job, and I no longer had those long Christmas holidays.
After leaving home, I became part of the October negotiations about who goes where for Christmas. Another change and a sign I was now an adult.
As a child, I became aware of the family’s Christmas traditions. The picking of the Christmas tree, the decorating, the queuing for the Christmas meat order at the local butcher. Plus, when I was very young, there was the tradition of the local baker cooking the turkey for Christmas Day. (Ovens in the UK would struggle to cook a turkey, so the local baker would cook it for a fee and deliver it in time for lunch.) Christmas lunch had six to eight family members around the table.
There were also set events with family members having parties — “It’s Boxing Day, so it’s the party at X’s house”.
And there was the religious side of carol and Christmas services at the local church and putting wreaths on family graves.
Christmas Now
Things have changed – a lot.
There is no more stirring of puddings and cakes in October.
The Christmas tree still goes up, but now it’s a fake and not the same. The house is not so extravagantly decorated. There are fewer presents under the tree.
There are no more visiting Father Christmas in the local store — I am too big. But, the charity Father Christmas float still comes by, and I waved to it the other evening and dropped some money in the collection tin.
The local baker closed, and he stopped cooking turkeys well over 50 years ago. And, this year, for the first time in 30+ years, I will not be getting up at 6 a.m. on Christmas Eve to queue at the local butcher to pick up my meat order when they open at 7 a.m. The butcher has closed. Another tradition gone. This year, I will pick up my meat from the local supermarket, and it won’t be the same experience, and the meat won’t be as good.
The family has contracted as older members died and members moved away. There are no more big Christmas dinners with eight around the table. There are not so many presents to buy. There are no big family parties where you meet the cousins you saw once a year.
One tradition has remained, and as usual it started in October: the discussions on who goes where on Christmas Day. I lost the negotiations this year (and for the past five) and will spend 4 hours driving on Christmas Day.
Christmas Future
Who knows what Christmas Future has in store? Maybe I will find a new decent local butcher and restart the tradition of queuing on Christmas Eve. I might take up baking in retirement and make Christmas Puddings and cakes. I might start some new traditions.
Anyway, whatever you do for Christmas, have a good one.
Travel — Nostalgia Corner
No Christmassy travel stories, just more on my trip to Malacca in Malaysia:
Malaysia — Malacca — the Night Market and Geographér Café, Malacca, Malaysia — I enjoy exploring night markets, and this one in Malacca wasn’t the best or worst example.
Malaysia — Malacca — Cheng Hoon Teng Temple, Malacca, Malaysia — Another favourite of mine to visit is Chinese Temples; this was a nice little example.
Malaysia — Malacca — Malaqa House Muzeum, Malacca, Malaysia — This was an odd little place, and I couldn’t decide whether it was a museum or an antique shop.
Malaysia — Malacca — Kompleks Muzium Maritim (Samudera / Flor de La Mar), Malacca, Malaysia— A mock-up of the type of wooden sailing ship the Portuguese used to come to Malacca — it was so small.
Malaysia — Malacca — Christ Church and Queen Victoria Fountain, Malacca, Malaysia — A visit to a church and a fountain.
Useful Christmas Health Links
OK, so this week, here are some links that might be useful over the festive break.
To help you avoid poisoning yourself and your guests with a poorly cooked turkey:
And, if you do become ill with food poisoning, COVID-19 or the flu, you may find these health-related websites helpful:
NHS COVID-19 website — numerous links to information on COVID-19
CDC COVID-19 website — many links to information on COVID-19
NHS — Guidance for People with symptoms of a respiratory infection, including COVID-19
Next week
Next week — my last Christmas as an employee.
Thanks
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Until next time,
Nick
PS, If you would like to contribute something to the newsletter — a story, advice, anything — please get in touch.