{"id":1039,"date":"2021-12-11T19:51:33","date_gmt":"2021-12-11T19:51:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1039"},"modified":"2021-12-11T19:51:35","modified_gmt":"2021-12-11T19:51:35","slug":"the-curse-of-the-christmas-songs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/the-curse-of-the-christmas-songs\/1039\/","title":{"rendered":"The Curse of the Christmas Songs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018It\u2019s day three hundred and sixty of the kids singing and the band playing, and I\u2019m starting to wish it wasn\u2019t Christmas every day,\u2019 I said, my paper hat falling down over my eyes. \u2018I\u2019d feel rude sending my family home though.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sombre nods spread around the circle, everyone at the Christmas Song Support Group feeling my pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I hear you,\u2019 said Bethan. \u2018When the first partridge in a pear tree arrived, I thought, how romantic<\/em>. But by day six, my neighbour with the bird phobia had called the police. It was the twelve drummers drumming that got me evicted. I didn\u2019t have the heart to tell my true love that it was too much.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daniel was the longest-standing member. Every year without fail, he gave away his heart only to have it cruelly given away on Boxing Day. Despite his resolutions to give it to someone special next time, it inevitably happened again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u2018We must destroy these songs!\u2019 said Daniel. \u2018We could get them banned? Or better still, find a way to time-travel and kill the people who wrote them!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul, the group leader, stroked his beard, regarding each of us with sharp blue eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I wonder,\u2019 he said, \u2018whether it\u2019s the songs that need changing, or something within each of you? Take a look outside. There\u2019s Christmas music playing in the town square right now. How is it affecting those people?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We all peered out the window. A crowd had gathered, bobble hats and smiling faces illuminated beneath the Christmas lights as they joined hands and sang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018They look happy,\u2019 we chimed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul furrowed his brow. \u2018So what unites all of you in your misery surrounding these songs?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Well\u2026\u2019 Bethan chewed her lip. \u2018Maybe we find it hard to, I don\u2019t know, be assertive?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul\u2019s eyes lit up like Christmas trees. \u2018Ahhh!\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I looked down at my shoes. They still had glitter on them from all the present-wrapping, and they sparkled like a thousand winking eyes trying to tell me something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I must admit, if I told my family to go home, Christmas might finally end,\u2019 I said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bethan\u2019s voice trembled. \u2018I\u2026 suppose I could tell my true love what sort of gifts I really like.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018And I could be more protective of my heart,\u2019 said Daniel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Let\u2019s recruit a Christmas song to help us practise assertiveness.\u2019 Paul attached his phone to some speakers. \u2018How about this?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018It was Christmas Eve, babe\u2026\u2019 rasped Shane MacGowan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After half an hour of shouting, \u2018Happy Christmas, your arse, I pray God it\u2019s our last!\u2019, we were feeling primed and ready to stand up for ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A year on, we join together around the Christmas tree in the square. Daniel is happily single. Bethan is sporting a beautiful solitaire ring, the only gift this year from her true love. And I haven\u2019t seen a turkey in twelve months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018From now on our troubles will be out of sight,\u2019 we sing. \u2018And have yourself a merry little Christmas night.\u2019  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018It\u2019s day three hundred and sixty of the kids singing and the band playing, and I\u2019m starting to wish it wasn\u2019t Christmas every day,\u2019 I said, my paper hat falling down over my eyes. \u2018I\u2019d feel rude sending my family home though.\u2019 Sombre nods spread around the circle, everyone at the Christmas Song Support Group […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211":"","twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[379,593],"tags":[102,12,9],"class_list":["post-1039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-379","category-december-2021-christmas","tag-christmas","tag-my","tag-said"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbrNJE-gL","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1039"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1044,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039\/revisions\/1044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}