Christmas Marketing

The television advertisements show Christmas

as this wonderfully perfect time of the year

where large families all get on splendidly

and smile lovingly at each other.

The turkey is the size of a Rottweiler hound,

fully cooked and all juicy and gold,

everyone receives the perfect gift,

wrapped in red ribbons and bows.

The whole family joins in the board-games

and carol singers perch on the door-step

Christmas puddings and log fires burn

and stockings hang over the fire-place.

Has anyone ever had a Christmas like that, 

like the ones the television adverts sell?

They heap on the stress and pile on the pressure

in the run-up to the big day itself.

Christmas in real-life is not perfection,

things don't always go as we plan

and the image of the snow isn't right either,

it tends to rain more than snow around here.

I wish you a perfectly imperfect Christmas

where things may not always run smooth, 

the turkey may be burnt to a crisp

and the singing isn't always in tune.