I am an early sparkler - deal with it

There are two types of people who celebrate Christmas - early sparklers and late sparklers.

For late sparklers now is the season of grumbling. IT’S TOO SOON they cry the minute they spy a bauble in a shop window. They cover their ears as Mariah trills out at them and mutter ‘It’s not even December yet’ under their breath as they do their weekly shop.

Late sparklers don’t really start their Christmas until Christmas Eve when they will be found happily doing their gift shopping while chugging gingerbread lattes out of seasonal cups.

They begin on Christmas Eve and carry on through New Year finally packing away on 12th night and thinking about the year ahead.

For an early sparkler November is the official run up to Christmas. Once Halloween is done tis the season…. and I am an early sparkler.

I bought my first Christmas baubles and gifts this week because for me the season begins around mid November and ends on Christmas Day.

Early sparklers are Christmas Eve people. It’s the anticipation we live for. The dark nights replete with fairy lights, the neighbours with light up reindeers in their gardens, the songs blasting out in every shop and every cheesy Netflix movie featuring a Prince and an ordinary New Yorker that I can lay my hands on.

My hot chocolate mug and Dean Martin winter songs are ready to roll. Like a toddler who has snagged the entire contents of their selection box, I get giddier and giddier in the run up to the big day.

Once Christmas Eve is over though - I am done. Now not to say that I don’t enjoy a good Twixmas. I am after all a writer so staying in your PJs and reading all day long is my lifestyle choice, yet the minute Christmas Day itself arrives I’m already thinking about next year.

My tree will be lucky to survive New Year’s Day. I like to clear it all away for a blank page in January.

Early sparklers really need to marry other early sparklers or you will spend your entire festive season arguing about whether Nov 15th is too early to put your tree up and offering the council lit town centre as your case for the defence.

I am an early sparkler and I don’t care…

Which one are you?

In other news I am waiting on my second round of edits for Circus of Mirrors so enjoying a week off. I watched NYAD on Netflix with Annette Bening and Jodie Foster and it’s an incredible movie based on a true story of long distance swimmer Diana Nyad who swam from Cuba to Florida.

I particularly loved the fact that it celebrates the achievements of a 64 year old woman who was not always that likeable. Usually we need movie heroines to be cute or compliant which we never ask of male heroes doing difficult things. It’s a a great watch and I highly recommend.

I am currently listening to Barbra Streisand’s memoir on audio. It’s obviously a very long book for a huge career and striking for the way she has always trusted her own intuition even when she was scared or insecure. A lesson to us all I guess.

That’s it from Fictionland for now. I am off to sparkle… and I don’t want to hear any grumbling about it.

Jxx