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Gift-giving and a non-consumer Christmas
In my circles, at least, an increasing number of people seem determined to escape the consumerism associated with Christmas. Instead of buying gifts, they’re making donations in the name of people. One...
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Shopping in December
For me, sanity in December is defined as keeping out of the shopping malls. The hordes of increasingly desperate shoppers, all over-dressed for indoors and getting increasingly hot and frustrated is...
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The Pogues’“Fairytale of New York”
Last week, the BBC suddenly decided to censor The Pogues’ “Fairytale of New York”, bleeping out the word “faggot.” It wasn’t the first time the group had been banned; its “Birmingham Six” song, which...
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Working in a mall at Christmas
This year, I have no serious work and nothing more pressing than the wrapping of a few gifts for Christmas Eve. I don’t even have to go outside, except for exercise, which is a relief, because what...
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First Christmas Alone
In the common room they’ve got the biggest tree And it’s huge and cold and lifeless Not like it ought to be, and the lit-up flashing Santa Claus on top It’s not that same old silver star, you once made...
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Gift-wrapping now and then
To the strains of Sileas’ “File Under Christmas,” I’ve just finished my wrapping for tomorrow. It was a feeble echo of the years when Trish was alive, and brings out the loneliness in my life more than...
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Corporate Christmas Gifts
Over the years, I’ve received all sorts of Christmas gifts from employers and the magazines that buy my articles. Like any gifts, these corporate offerings say more about the givers than I suspect I...
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