The Supreme Court has ruled that they cannot have a nativity scene in Washington, D.C. This wasn’t for any religious reasons. They couldn’t find three wise men and a virgin. – Comedian Jay Leno

You have to feel for people like Charlie Brown, the nicest born loser you could ever hope to meet. Especially when he confesses that he’s developed a new philosophy on life. “I’m only going to dread one day at a time.” 

But even Charlie Brown must have felt better around this time of year. I mean, it’s the most wonderful time for a beer. OK, no more puns. They really do sleigh some people.

I used to think Manhattan’s Little Italy used to look lovely on Christmas Eve –  its cold and frosty ambience, its red and green lights going twink-twink-twinkling. Then I saw Singapore’s Orchard Road with its mile-long fairyland of lights and I was suitably impressed. The extravaganza  goes on for over a month. 

But for sheer spectacle, there’s little to beat Rebecca’s kampung, the Portuguese Settlement in Malacca. The residents there are all Catholic and so every home attempts to strut its most festive stuff, all the Christmastide you could think of in one place. The result is nothing short of  breathtaking, a carnival of light and colour that envelopes the entire village. Indeed, it gets a bit much, to the extent that it’s often clogged with camera-toting tourists gawking at the locals with all the curiosity one associates with zoos. 

Most people have good memories associated with Christmas. But for Bill “Bah, Humbug” Maher, it’s “about family and memories, and the looks on the carolers’ faces when I set the dogs on them.” 

I loved the film The Grinch.  It fairly dripped Yuletide, with its abundance of snow, red and green presents, eggnog, mulled wine, and sleigh bells going ring-ring-ring-a-ling; all set to rhyme and presided over by the cantankerously funny Grinch, marvelously played by Jim Carey. It must have resonated because it became the highest grossing Christmas film of all time. 

You might say that the season isn’t just a day for us, it’s more of a frame of mind. There’s something about entering a mall and seeing the Christmastide,   hearing those familiar carols, that cheers me up. When Raisa was very young she used to bounce around with excitement. 

Not any more though. She’s pretty blasé about it now although when she used to live in Austria,  the pictures she sent back to us about Christmas in an Austrian village with her in-laws, looked straight out of the home of Cindy Lou Who in  Whoville.

We still continue with our “traditions.” The tree gets trimmed on the first day of Advent – two weeks ago – and the house becomes redolent with the smell of pineapple tarts just around now. Even the government radio stations play an carol every now and then.

We leave for Portugal on Tuesday where we will link up with Raisa, Hannes and our grand-dog, Wally, an affable and cute-as-a-button Coton.

It will be moderately  cold there but if last winter was anything to go by, it promises to be nice with afternoon temperatures rising to 19 degrees. The food is great, the prices are reasonable and it will  begin to look a lot like Christmas. 

Until then, have a lovely little Christmas and may the New Year be a better one for everybody.  

ENDS