Tuesday 25 December 2012

Merry Christmas

The 25th of December ... possibly the most exciting day of the year.
 
In the US alone, more than 3 billion Christmas cards are sent, every year. It is this day that is proclaimed by Facebook as the "least popular" day for breakups, however, it is found that lots of couples break up two weeks before Christmas. In fact this period is the second most common time of the year for couples to split. So it seems like a happy time, right?

 
I have some more facts for you, sales of mistletoe increase by 45% at Christmas time... so lots of smooching going on, however, next time you go to kiss that special someone under the green twig, think about this. The word mistletoe comes from the Anglo-Saxon word misteltan, which means “little dung twig” because the plant spreads though bird droppings - lovely, the bird poo plant! Sounds romantic, right?
 
Christmas stockings allegedly evolved from three sisters who were too poor to afford a marriage dowry and were, therefore, doomed to a life of prostitution. They were saved, however, when the wealthy Bishop Saint Nicholas of Smyrna (the precursor to Santa Claus) crept down their chimney and generously filled their stockings with gold coins - Hmm Sounds very festive, right?
 
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), there are 2,106 million children under age 18 in the world. If there are on average 2.5 children per household, Santa would have to make 842 million stops on Christmas Eve, traveling 221 million miles. To reach all 842 million stops, Santa would need to travel between houses in 2/10,000 second, which means he would need to accelerate 12.19 million miles (20.5 billion meters) per second on each stop. The force of this acceleration would reduce Santa to “chunky salsa.” - Sounds viable, right?
 
Some people want to escape from Christmas, but this Christmas fact shows us that Christmas is almost inescapable as carols have even been sung up in space. The first song to be sung in space was Jingle Bells. Two astronauts back in 1965 reported seeing a UFO. They then claimed that the UFO had one main command module and eight smaller modules in front and that the pilot was wearing a red suit. The mischievous pair then went on to sing Jingle Bells to NASA - inescapable?! Sounds like a thrill, right?

I am by no means a scrooge, in fact, I love Christmas! These are just some of the shocking facts I found while scouring through the internet on the laptop I received for Christmas... Despite this, I do believe that this festive holiday has been destroyed in a lot of ways, and in some cases, has lost its true meaning. It has become an over commercialised event, all retailers have jumped on the media bandwagon!
"Christmas is the season of giving" true... but how many times have you been undermined by retailers by this phrase... engraining it into your head that you have to spend your life savings in order to make someone happy. Happiness certainly does not come from materialistic things, such as (as much as I love it) Apple products or any of the other popular items that we on the wish list this Christmas season, or any other Christmas season for that matter.

For me, Christmas means, spending time with your family, seeing relatives you didn't know existed, and seeing people that your busy schedule doesn't allow for you to see. Its a time to take a break (as much as CCEA exams would tell you otherwise!) from your life and focus on the things that our vitally important - showing love, spending time with people who are important to you, showing caring thought.
So as this Christmas Day draws to a close, reflect on how you have spent your day, and how you want to spend your next few days, and perhaps your next Christmas!

So have a Merry Christmas and a prosperous new year!
Best Wishes
Vicky
xx

At World's End

Sign predicting the end of the worldI can safely post this blog, knowing that our world did not end on 21st December 2012, as it is now 28 minutes into the 22nd December.
 Well, initially when I was writing this blog, these numbers were correct, however I got distracted, and 3 days later, I have gotten round to posting it ... so just play along :P


Whether you believed in the Mayan prophecy or not, interpreted it in a different way to the rest of the globe or ignored it, we can all picture what would happen if our world did end. I the world ended on the 21st of December 2012, what legacy would you have left? What way would you have left it with your friends, family, colleagues, neighbours, the people that you interact with every day? Did you get round to doing that thing you always waned to do? Did you live your life to the fullest potential?


Ok so false alarm, the world didn't end n the 21st,  however Maybe those mischievous Mayan's did us a favour. Maybe, just maybe, they prepared us for the inevitability that we are not immortal... however this can be a good thing! In our lives we are certain of nothing, except for the fact that one day, death will occur. Although death is a topic we like to brush off and not talk about, is it not a good thing that we know that one day we will leave this earth, and go to the place that you believe occurs after death?

Anyways, not getting too deep, I want to leave you with the challenge. Live everyday of your life as if you are at World's end, like every tomorrow is the 21st of December 2012... Make right your wrongs.... Make friends with your enemies .... Laugh until you cry.... Love so much it hurts ... and just live life to its fullest potential, because we aren't cats, we don't get 9 chances, we don't even get a practice run at life.... This life we are living is our one shot and we need to make the most of it! So Live, Laugh and Love

Lots of Love
Vicky
xx