The five days of Christmas
Nov. 27th, 2020 10:53 amNone of what follows should be read as endorsing any particular view of what is best for the nation's health, its economy or indeed its soul: about these questions I am as confused as the next person. Though we are clearly, like it or not, still a Christian country: the people of Leicester were asked to forego Eid, synagogues were closed for the High Holy Days, Diwali was cancelled - but Boris could not face being the Grinch who stole Christmas. I don't know how he persuaded the Scottish government to sign up for the suppression of Hogmanay: the H-word was not mentioned in the BBC news reports.
So we are to be permitted to gather in three-family bubbles for five days, with our fingers crossed that this will not fuel the spread of the virus in the way that reopening the universities did (see disclaimer above: obviously there is some risk, but I don't know how much and I don't know what the cost would be of banning Christmas). If this makes possible whatever is essential to your Christmas, I am happy for you. I haven't yet spoken to anyone for whom it is a perfect fit (even the couple who can now take a guilt-free break with her parents and brother are wondering if we are OK for five days, what would be the harm of staying a little longer...? but such people must exist, and many more for whom it's better than nothing.
The dispensation is very little use to me, since those five days tend to fall in a lull between the Bears' Carol Evening (the heart of my Christmas, but obviously not compatible with any degree of restriction) and the New Year (when D. and
valydiarosada traditionally visit - we still spend the evening quietly, with food and drink and an open fire, but there are four of us instead of two). Over the years we have negotiated Christmas itself in various ways with various people, but lately it has been just the two of us and a feeling that (as more than one person is currently saying about Thanksgiving over on my f-page) I am off the hook. If I were being purely self-interested here, I could wish that Boris has stood firm and refused to bend the rules for Christmas, so there would be an excuse for not delicately enquiring whether other people were satisfactorily sorted - but that would be selfish. I will remark, though, that the plea to remember the people who live alone cuts both ways: there are some who will be grateful that they now have permission to celebrate in company, but there are also some who will be regretting the removal of their excuse not to celebrate in company...
Reporting of this dispensation has been accompanied by coverage of the plight of the "hospitality industry" - which is really a whole other question. The traditional pub was in trouble long before the pandemic, and its immediate crisis was never going to be resolved by anything the government announced to allow families to celebrate Christmas together. Setting all that aside, when I hear yet another reporter announcing the restaurants make 20% of their annual profits (or was it 'takings'? don't quote me on this) in the month before Christmas, I am less sympathetic than I should be: that's your problem right there, I think, remembering how it gradually became impossible to treat
durham_rambler's mother to a birthday meal on Decemer 18th, as first the evening then even lunchtime became packed out with -re-Christmas celebrations. The two-month pre-Christmas frenzy always felt unsustainable, and then always switched off just as I was getting into the Twelve Days of Christmas mood -
Oh! But what about Phantoms at the Phil? I hadn't thought of that ...
So we are to be permitted to gather in three-family bubbles for five days, with our fingers crossed that this will not fuel the spread of the virus in the way that reopening the universities did (see disclaimer above: obviously there is some risk, but I don't know how much and I don't know what the cost would be of banning Christmas). If this makes possible whatever is essential to your Christmas, I am happy for you. I haven't yet spoken to anyone for whom it is a perfect fit (even the couple who can now take a guilt-free break with her parents and brother are wondering if we are OK for five days, what would be the harm of staying a little longer...? but such people must exist, and many more for whom it's better than nothing.
The dispensation is very little use to me, since those five days tend to fall in a lull between the Bears' Carol Evening (the heart of my Christmas, but obviously not compatible with any degree of restriction) and the New Year (when D. and
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Reporting of this dispensation has been accompanied by coverage of the plight of the "hospitality industry" - which is really a whole other question. The traditional pub was in trouble long before the pandemic, and its immediate crisis was never going to be resolved by anything the government announced to allow families to celebrate Christmas together. Setting all that aside, when I hear yet another reporter announcing the restaurants make 20% of their annual profits (or was it 'takings'? don't quote me on this) in the month before Christmas, I am less sympathetic than I should be: that's your problem right there, I think, remembering how it gradually became impossible to treat
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Oh! But what about Phantoms at the Phil? I hadn't thought of that ...