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BOXING DAY
“IT’S CHRIIIISTMASSSS!” As Noddy Holder and Slade continue to let us all know every December through supermarket speakers the length and breadth of the country, or even as early as late October in some properly irritating establishments Whatever happened to the great Christmas number one’s of old? When I was a kid, one of the best things about Christmas was finding out who would achieve Christmas number one status in the pop charts and with it gain a certain immortality, to be played every year thereafter. I think the last half-decent tune that had a proper Crimbly feel to it was Mariah Carey’s ‘All I want for Christmas’ (sing along now, folks), so it's really no wonder all the older songs continue to get replayed as these days there’s nowt decent coming out. N.B. Not to mention yet another cock awful X-Factor cover version that’ll no doubt have been well and truly slaughtered. Bowie, Queen, George Michael, even Wham! All great bands/singers that got involved in the true ‘festive feel’. And who doesn't get slightly emotional whilst having a Christmas brandy and listening to John Lennon or Band Aid belting out two of the all time great Christmas tunes?
DIE HARD Definitely one of the best Christmas movies in my humble opinion and to this day, I still try and watch it every Christmas Eve. “Yippee ki yay!” But seriously, whatever happened to the Christmas Day movie? It used to be on BBC1 immediately after the Queen’s speech, right after the family had polished off the last of their sprouts. We’d all settle down and watch a true popcorn blockbuster, everyone together throughout the land. After all, it’s tradition, isn’t it? Sadly, what with modern technology, everyone now has 24/7 access to whatever they want to watch, whenever they want to watch it, so a BBC premiere doesn't quite cut the mustard the way it used to. I’ve lost count how many times I’ve watched ‘Back to the Future’ and ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ after originally recording them on Christmas day.
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Every Boxing day we would all gather round at my Nan and Grandad Attrell's for what was very much like a second Christmas day, with yet another roast for lunch, followed by cold meats and other festive goodies in the evening. I definitely miss that feeling of sheer and utter excitement that I used to have as a kid when Christmas came to town. My Mum always reminds me how I seemingly used to be ill over the Yuletide period, probably because I would get myself so worked up as the big day approached. I literally didn't used to be able to sleep on Christmas Eve night. Well, it felt like that, but I must have managed a couple of hours because at 4.00am I would look down towards the bottom of my bed and always see an extra full stocking, while the first thing I did when I woke up was to check to see that the food and drink we’d left out for Santa and his reindeers had been consumed. Yeah, I'm not gonna lie, Christmas as a kid was always brilliant for me, thanks to my Mum and Dad. They somehow always managed to surprise me and always bought me far too many presents. But I was genuinely always grateful for what I got and appreciated how hard they both worked throughout the year to make Christmas day such a special day for us all. They always made sure we ‘never went without’ and that taught me values that I still hold incredibly dear to this day even though I'm sure my daughter, Maisy, and my wife, Michelle, might say different after I totally ruined Christmas day for us last year by trying to sort out our 02 contracts, as I was sick of the signal not working as we couldn't contact, send or receive messages to/from family and friends. I definitely won't be doing that again this year, that's for sure. Instead, Christmas day and Boxing day will be spent with family in Ye Olde village of Kelvedon, where I'm sure good times, plus plenty of food and drink, will be had by one and all. I’m also looking forward to the Boxing day football where we will all do family sweepstakes. Well, I've got to try and make the festive footy fun, haven’t I, as West Ham’s results are normally worse over the festive period than they normally are. I can see us going down quicker than the Christmas decorations at this rate. Also, just so no one gets offended when they don't receive a Christmas card from us, we tend not to send them anymore as my better-half came up with the great idea of donating to charities instead with the money that would have gone on the cards. This year we have decided to donate to Age UK. So let it snow, let it snow, let it snow, as the late, great Dean Martin once sang. Merry Christmas, everyone. Peace & Joy from The Polaks x
‘3D’ E L VERS F ION
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