Bruce Kerr: Why I’m already excited about Christmas

Bruce gets jolly about Christmas… one month early.


It’s official: Kingdom FM (Fife’s flagship radio broadcaster) has told me Christmas begins this Saturday at Dunfermline’s ‘Winter Festival’. And with the UK’s premier Michael Buble tribute band on the line up as well as Rylan (that person from that thing) it’s hard for me to contain my excitement. Did I mention it’s free?

“But it’s only mid-November” I hear all 3 of my readers cry. I have long been fascinated and perplexed by the annoyance many people feel in the perhaps drawn out build up to Christmas. Maybe it’s the endless adverts, the repetitive playing of Christmas songs and the tacky christmas decorations. Whatever it is that irks these people, they try to brush off any acknowledgement of the occassion until Santa is shuffling his big red bootie down the chimney. Well I am not one of these people. Mariah Carey is already telling me that I’m all she wants for Christmas, and I believe her.

With regards to shameless consumerism Halloween is out of the way and we need something new to get excited over, especially after the way my Halloween went. A risky purchase of some dodgy contact lenses for my outfit left me with a crusty case of conjunctivitis. It’s fair to say I spent more of raisin pouring eye drops than any alcoholic beverages. I shall ponder life’s greater questions, such as: how much christmas knitwear is too much? Which confectionaries will be sponsoring my chocolate binge in the 25 day countdown to Christmas? Is ‘I’m allergic to the cold’ a viable excuse to self-certificate? And how great do sales of the Pogue’s Christmas classic ‘Fairytale of New York’ spike this time of year?

Presents. It’s the reason we’re really excited. It’s one of the 2 days a year (Easter promises chocolate) we all become conveniently religious, and the cynic inside me suspects our celebration of the mass of Christ might have something to do with the giving and receiving (LOL). Whichever is your predilection, we all love presents and what better way is there to spread love than through this medium.

Christmas represents true freedom for the students of St Andrews. Unlike some of our sister/brother/secondcousin universities, the big black abyss that is exam season is but a distant and dark memory by the time Saint Nicholas frequents us. Thanks to the coping mechanisms of the brain, you might have been able to push this entire portion of your life into the deepest depths of your subconscious. Christmas can truly be enjoyed safe in the knowledge that your life wont be over til the results come out (I’m a second year, forgive my hyperbole). Christmas represents waking up from the hibernation of exam time. Socialising is once again encouraged and your vitamin D levels are replenished as you emerge out of the library like butterfly from a cocoon.

So hold back your bahs and your humbugs for tis indeed the season to be jolly (falalalala lala la la).