The pressure is really on with the big stores isn't it? Every year they have to make it just that little bit more beautiful, that little bit more nostalgic and that little bit more likely to get you shedding a tear or two.
I constantly feel like adding the sub-heading: 'It's a shop' to the end credits of these things while I remember what it's like queuing up in those overheating department stores every December. They never show that, do they?
Anyhow, in the spirit of pre-advent-anticipation-excitement, Peter, Geoff and I started practising carols today: Peter on clarinet, Geoff (playing his swansong) on a trumpet, and me poking a piano app on my iPad.
As with anything like this, the simpler it is, the easier it is.
"When do you want to get people along to sing?" asked Geoff.
"As late as possible," I said, remembering how difficult it is to get your colleagues to take it seriously. I had a little smile to myself, remembering how last year, David from HR had modified the words of the carols to include famous dictators. Definitely as late as possible.
So, it really does feel like the annual wind-up to carolling everywhere, has begun. For the next six weeks, I'll be thinking of those tricky chord progressions and odd words I need to remember. Most of all though, I'll need to generate some of that magical Christmas spirit myself, and sustain it all the way through. That's always the hardest part.
Maybe I should watch the Sainsbury's ad with the sound turned up, as a starter? I probably ought not to poke holes in the astrophysics of the John Lewis tearjerker either.
Adeste Fideles, everybody, adeste fideles.
No comments:
Post a Comment