Me and my Christmas thoughts

Dec 21, 2014 Features / Columnists, My Column

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At this time of the year even warring nations seek a truce. It is as if the season brings a peace of its own, and for me, it surely does.  From the start of November when the radio begins to blare the Christmas tunes, I suddenly feel different. I go back in time when I was young and all excited about the thoughts of the Christmas parties and the meals.
The decorations would go up in the various stores and on the homes. I remember on one occasion a community got together to decorate the street. These days Courts, the furniture giant, does this each year and creates a beautiful sight, especially at nights when the lights go on in the streets. One night, I actually took a seat on a bench under the trees and simply gazed at the lights above my head and went back in time.
It was a wonderful feeling, and it has stayed with me until now, except for those moments when grim news greeted me in the newsroom. I am of the view that at this time of the year, just about everyone looks forward for the change in diet and so many other things that happen at Christmastime.
There was the news about this man who went berserk because his estranged woman opted to move on with her life. It is not that this couple had children together but as someone said, jealousy is a bitch. During the conversation I caught myself saying that if a woman wanted to leave me she has every right, because she is not property.
But this man must have felt that he owned the woman. The fact that he used a cutlass with deadly effect suggested that he could not love the woman.   He killed her mother, her daughter and her paramour who, incidentally, left his wife at home to share another bed.
The crazy thing is that if a man is so bold to vent his spleen, then he should be bold enough to face the consequences. This man has disappeared. He is not alone. Hours later a man in the eastern part of the country slit his wife’s throat. He too has since disappeared.
This must have been the season for men killing their wives because across the Atlantic, in Brooklyn, New York, there was this man who also killed his wife and her lover. This situation I found rather funny because they found the lover naked outside an apartment.
Obviously the man and the woman stripped in the bitterly cold weather for the proverbial roll in the hay. Surely, they did not bother to lock the car, or the fear that sprang up when the husband suddenly appeared led to confusion. This killer did not run. Instead, he drove the car with his dead wife’s body to some location where the police found it.
He is now in jail and there are those who are in sympathy with him. Who wants to be in jail at Christmas? I suppose there are some people who will only regret being there when they are caught.  Take the idiot who at knifepoint attempted to relieve a woman of her phone. In crowded Georgetown this act borders on the ridiculous. He has a few months to ponder but then again, some say that in jail some people hone their criminal skills.
But the season is not about grim things; it is about peace and joy. I am not seeing the quantity of decorations that I would normally see on the homes at this time, but I am seeing the crowds in the marketplace.  I have not attempted to go by the stores because I no longer have children who would crave toys.
Even my grandchildren are too old for toys and my great-grandchildren are too young to appreciate the bigger toys or any toy for that matter given their short attention span.
On the streets the traffic is crazy. I have never seen so many traffic ranks in the city in my whole life, not even when there was a state visit. There I was at a crossing at Cummings and Robb Streets waiting for the traffic on the right of way to flow when an idiot slams into the back of my car. There was no damage done, neither was there an apology.
I am certain that there will be worse, given the impatience that prevails these days.
There are the people who are in my shoes, harking for company at this time, so the only thing that comes to their mind is the alcohol. I have a friend who enjoys himself by having a drink and when the alcohol creates that buzz, then the conversations would begin and the laughter would flow.
But when it is all over, there is the longing for the days past when the children were around and the house seemed full.  And strange as it may seem, there were children back then who are now parents. The other day I sat and watched one of these families return from a shopping expedition. They probably felt as I did way back when I had cause to do the same thing.
For all the nostalgia, I still embrace the season because for one, I am alive and healthy. I have a roof over my head, unlike the family in La Penitence who lost their home on Friday.
And indeed, fires tend to be common at this time of year. Perhaps the power company tries too hard or perhaps, people simply create fire hazards. I hear that some fairy lights are. There are still a few days left before the big day and I intend to enjoy them, because as soon as Christmas Day passes I experience a low, as though I have lost something special.

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