The Optimistic Scrooge.

For my family, Christmas has been a unusual tradition for the last seven years. We've traded snow and huge roast dinners for blazing hot Christmas days with a barbeque feast. So, I suppose in some sense the further alterations to this year's Christmas shouldn't make as much of a difference, but this Christmas will feel more surreal than ever before.

It's going to be just me and mum. Not that I don't love my mum, but Christmas is about family and my dad's going to be working 11 hours away in the harshness of the Australian outback. My brother's moved out; and whilst he's popping around in the morning for present swapping, our family will literally be divided for this year's festivities. We'll spend the afternoon with our fellow family friends from England which will be the comfort for our sense of home this Christmas.

I love Christmas. I truly do. I love to buy people gifts, and to see their reactions. I love the optimism that spreads around due to the upcoming holiday season, and joining together to see everyone you care for.

While we've all got our pet peeves over Christmas (I won't even go near a shopping mall this week) and children's obession with their upcoming presents for months beforehand; I think adults share a similar sense of nervousness when considering the scope of their lives and happiness.

Christmas often brings a sense of postponement that other holidays can't deliver. People put off things around Christmas; they don't want to be responsible for causing pain during the holiday season. By all accounts we'll resist having that serious talk with someone or pushed back an inevitable breakup due to the upcoming day of celebration. But why delay the inevitable? And how is this one day of year going to erase the bad and give you the perfect present you've desired?

I think in some senses, Christmas evokes this false sense of hope and hesitation. People try to string together and pull through in the knowledge that it's Christmas time, and at Christmas time you shouldn't be responsible for causing pain. Christmas day has big boots to fill; and I'm not talking about Santa's. Perhaps we should all focus on our situations now, not plan how to perfect an inperfect situation just for Christmas.

While I hope this day that evokes family, giving and happiness brings people back together on a long term basis or helps to mend your woe, surely it's cruel to pretend for a day, if that's your only intentions.

For many of us, Christmas is not a relgiious celebration but a capitalistic Hallmark tradition borrowing symbols and rituals from a variety of religions and cultures (the Dutch's Sinta Klauss and pagan tree traditions; for example). What Christmas represents to the majority is a day of presents and piss-ups.

By all means, I wish for us all to enjoy this year's Christmas, and realise how lucky we are to have healthy and happy lives. Gift giving is one of my favourite parts of Christmas, and we should all value the way the day brings us more together. However, we should apply this attitude to each day, and count our happiness on a daily basis, not on an annual review; when a tree, an old man with a beard and stack of presents have to remind us to.

Bah, humbug.