Christmas Eve. 2 days before Boxing Day.

Who are the biggest influences in your life?

I knew the topic of this Christmas Eve blog  when I started the countdown to Boxing Day on December 1st. As it happens the planned blog melds rather comfortably with the prompt from my blog hosts. In fact the prompt focuses the mind somewhat.

I have a hierarchy of influencers/ influences in my life.

1. All generations of my family that I know or have known.
2. My Friends
3. Books
4. Music
5. Colleagues and acquaintances
6. People that I don’t like.

1,5 and 6 are beyond my control. They just happen to me.

This group becomes A.

2,3 and 4 are chosen, an echo chamber of my tastes and likes. This group becomes B.

Honestly so difficult to say which group is the greatest influence on me. I believe it is a healthy mix of both.

Pondering this is mind meandering. Give it a try if you have a few minutes over the festive season.

And so to X on 26 Days to Boxing Day and a late revelation of another factor in choosing ’26 Days to Boxing Day’. X on Christmas Eve is easy, Xmas. Christmas Day will be Y for Yule and Z will sort itself out on the Day.

Oh dear, how I dislike the abbreviation of Christmas down to a reductive Xmas. My apologies now but I find it such a difficult word to think about. It feels like that awful squeak of  chalk misdirected on a blackboard. I have chosen the bright colours on the blog inages to visually create that wince making sensation. The other word I dislike for the same reason is ‘kids’.

Sometimes and rather awfully those two words appear in the same lazy sentence at Christmas.

Happy Xmas to you and the kids.

Eughhh!

Happy Christmas to you and yours.

Same sentence, more or less, but much more comfortable. Or is that just me?