Sign of the times: the Christmas blues

And what do you know, the holidays are around the corner, once more.

This will be my fourth Christmas with HSBC. The big tree, with its silver and blue trimmings, is up again, and is a beautiful sight to behold; the papier mache Santa Claus once more standing beside it, smiling like some benevolent father. Pity I couldn't take a picture of it--our company is so big on security that snapping away in any part of the office premises is in no way allowed. Well, I could get sneaky and... oh, but I'm a good girl. Hope Santa checks off my very long Christmas wish list.



The wind's got a pretty chilly bite to it--was it like this last year, and the year before? I never could remember. I'm down with a bad cold--have been so the past few days. It seems that Christmas is the season to get sick. Lauded to be a time for merry-making, it is, ironically, also the part of the year where some--if not most--people find themselves at their saddest.

Don't the blinding display of lights and the bright, cheery colors blot out the ugliness, the squalor surrounding us? Do the Christmas carols remind us so strongly of childhood and the fact that we are now adults trying our best to fend for ourselves as best we can?

Yesterday, a colleague of mine was looking particularly glum and I, unable to stand people around me being sad, approached him. "Christmas blues?" He nodded. "Thanks for giving a name to it," he said. And I was, like, oops, maybe that wasn't it, maybe I had brought on more gloom. Oh, well, anyway, during the conversation that followed, I inadvertently jumbled up one of my sentences, which brought on a wide grin from him. It felt nice to have made someone brighten up, considering how cynical people of my generation have become; the contagious holiday blues being one sure sign. If only I could play Santa and spread cheer to those who most need it. If only I weren't so prone to gloom myself. lol

Oh, but I'm looking forward to my nine-day-long Christmas Leave! I'm packing up the kids for a visit to Naga and I know--I just know--that this Christmas will be just as grand as the one we had last year.

I can't wait to go home.

Picture from this site.