After some sixty years, it never ceases to amaze me how Santa can visit some seven billion people in a single night.
Last night, despite gale force winds and horrendous rain, he still arrived. We actually heard the reindeer struggling for a footing on the corrugated roof of our croft house and when I went outside this morning I could see several scrapes on the roof from when they must have pushed off back into flight.
Somehow Santa managed to squeeze down the chimney loaded with presents, ate the minced pie and drank the brandy (we thought he’d like an upgrade) and still remembered to put the granny back on the chimney when he left.
What a heap of presents. Famous Names liqueurs, a megaphone for calling errant clients back to the car, pen tablet and a magnifier because I’m having trouble reading tiny print. Also some Amani Code, a railway mug and some chocolate buttons.
Wendy got a cashmere sweater, long knitted jumper, chocolate orange, toy money, a Monet puzzle and Tony Benn autobiography. No reflection on particular politics. She likes autobiographies.
Friends gave us a bottle of champagne, more chocolates and a fiery sauce. Got an Oliver apron and a basset candle. Thank goodness for no more ornaments!
The turkey is about an hour from ready and the Gewurztraminer just being removed so it is not too cold. The fire is live and if you’d like to waste a minute watching it click this: SHORT FIRE VIDEO.
So what is happening around the world this Christmas 2011?
The pope, surrounded by gold candlesticks on gilt mounts, jewels and cardinals dressed in fantastically expensive and ornate robes had the cheek to tell us we need to see beyond the glitter of a commercial Christmas.
The archbishop of Canterbury was drifting around looking as if he is in a marijuana haze from an overindulgent Christmas Eve. He tells us society is breaking down.
Obama praises the troops who have returned from Iraq with hardly a mention of the deaths which occurred just days later seeing more Iraqi civilians being blown up.
Cameron goes to Afghanistan to praise the British troops who continue to be slowly depleted by roadside mines and bombs.
God has been up to his usual tricks too. He managed to let a family get blown up in Liverpool, a gunman go on the rampage in the states and a churchload of worshippers get blown up in Africa. Of course, children saved from death are seen as God working miracles while those who die … well they are dead so will not live to say how prayer saved them. Such total nonsense. It is always the people who have miraculous escapes who speak about their faith and miraculous rescues. Well, let me speak for the 70 billion people who died in the last 2,000 years and never had their prayers answered. How many “God save me” pleas went out before they fell to their deaths, got burned alive or blown up, murdered or hung in error. The lack of their voices is just one of the many proofs that God does not exist.
An outdated bible calls for stoning of adulterers, even worse for rape victims in other religions and it will never cease to amaze me how otherwise intelligent people can accept that Christ was the son of a supernatural being who created the entire universe.
Pretty hopeless planning that. Not only did he fail to get the message to the world’s entire population, but he has signally failed to demonstrate his existence in any tangible way. Of course believers accept the childish myth that he requires faith, when we all know these myths are not real.
Oh, yes, now back to Santa …
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year – make the most of it, because the afterlife is a fantasy invented to suppress the masses.
Wonder what comments I’ll get to that post!