Time shifting
By Steve Sharp
I won’t be seeing any of my four offspring on Father’s Day, and I don’t mind a bit.
They are all busy people, geographically spread out, and I don’t want to disrupt their lives because of a date on a calendar.
I have a similar attitude to birthdays.
I won’t see any of them on Christmas Day either.
Of course, I love spending time with my kids but don’t see the point of forcing it to be on a particular day or anniversary.
Yes, we will get together to celebrate a specific event but will do it at a time when it is more convenient.
I call it time shifting.
In the case of Christmas, most families with grown up children face the dilemma of who goes to who’s parents on which day, schlepping around the country on Boxing Day laden with presents. When your kids get their own place, they will want to have a go at doing Christmas, in their small starter home or flat.
With divorced and separated people, the problem is magnified, and there is little wonder that the opportunity for disagreements and disappointments is heightened.
A few years ago, I was working on marketing and advertising campaigns for the Australian department store chain David Jones. The Christmas tv ad featuring Cate Blanchett told the story of how Australians do Christmas, in 30 degrees of summer heat!
A good proportion of her countryfolk shun the barbie and do the whole turkey dinner wearing Christmas jumpers!
They decorate their houses with reindeer, sleighs, and Christmas trees, and send Christmas cards featuring robins and cottages covered in snow, even though most of them have never seen snow in their lives.
It occurred to me that this was the answer to the Christmas dilemma!
The whole family now set aside a week in August to enjoy our “Christmas” and have done it ever since.
Everyone is relaxed, it’s summer, the days are long, and we all have a fabulous time with none of that feeling we should be somewhere else.
If I am totally honest, I am especially relaxed about Father’s Day because I will have seen all of them a few days earlier at the launch of my wife’s solo exhibition of ceramics and paintings in Mayfair. A rare chance to see them all together in one place.
And speaking of my wife, she does not necessarily agree with my time shifting concept.
She is cool with the Christmas thing but when a message on her birthday comes late, she subscribes to the sentiments of Kiwi comedy duo Flight of the Conchords song, Hurt Feelings.
Steve