Come November, Christmas starts looming large. It can be a tricky time.
The Christmas season, and in Caversham and Emmer Green there are local traders, local firms, local events and so on getting involved with it all, one way or another. When I’m aware of them I’ll mention things I think are relevant on this site. And, by and large, that’s all to the good. But it has been interesting to ponder why I think that. I came to the conclusion that there are two key aspects: time and money.
The events that I mention will take effort and some cost to put on, but they’re not huge affairs to mount. And nor are they expensive to participate in. What’s more, where they involve things for sale, what’s on offer won’t all be prohibitively ‘big ticket’. And if some things for sale are ‘higher end’, there’ll also be other things that aren’t.
I’m not a fool. And I’ve been seriously skint more than once in my life. And I know too well that for some folks pretty well everything about Christmas can be a major strain on the purse strings. But that said, I take heart from the fact that there’s pleasure to be had locally with little or no cost involved. And, taken as a whole, the local events and what-have-you are pretty inclusive.
This Christmas – and, indeed, at any other time – what I’d urge everyone, whatever your bank balance, is to both bear in mind the potential situations of others, and also to not put pressure on yourself. And I’m talking things financial and otherwise. It’s important to remember that money-related problems aren’t the only source of unhappiness.
As for what to actually do to make the most of the Christmas season, my conclusion is that the most valuable thing you can ‘spend’ at Christmas is your time. For any number of understandable reasons, it’s far too easy to not spend time with friends, loved ones, acquaintances … and yourself. And I mean good quality time – nothing cursory, fleeting or just because you feel you have to. And spending time needn’t cost a penny.
A related item on this site:
We try to keep track of local events here:
A related item on Caversham’s parent site, Unstated:
Unstated’s ‘Deliberate Fragments’ includes ‘A Present To Yourself’, a further look at the ins and outs of Christmas.
