Tis the season to be jolly.

As the carol goes - "It's beginning to feel like Christmas...".

Most people are on their Christmas/New Year break now. The upcoming week and a half of rest and relaxation always put people in a good mood. Traveling to work today was a breeze. Traffic was smooth and there was not many people waiting at the bus stops along the way.

People that I meet around this time of year are usually chatty, cheery and relaxed. Even strangers. In this festive season, everybody's got something to talk about after the usual 'How are yous?'. If it wasn't for the holiday season, strangers, myself or a 'Hi-Bye' friend would comment about the weather which is usually a sign for, 'Look, I'm racking my brains trying to come up with a topic for conversation and I've got nothing.'. The question - 'What are you doing for the long break?' usually gets the banter going until it ends with a polite farewell and the season's greeting which is very pleasant.

Instead of being harassed to get a job done on an unreasonable deadline from a client or a third party, there were a few incidences this week that could only be explained as one of the many miracles of Christmas.

The usual tightly wound nutters that have my balls at the palm of their hands said with a smile and cheer in their tone of voice, 'Oh, don't worry. We'll deal with it in the new year.'. Now if it was any other month of the year, they would have squeezed.

One of them initially asked us to prepare all the information for a meeting that she wanted to have on the last day before most offices close for the year. She did this with a letter and a couple of stern phone calls. We left 3 messages with her since last week and she finally calls yesterday to say that she was going on holidays and we're postponing the meeting till next year.

If I was a newbie, I would've stressed on her unreasonable demands but knowing the organisation that she works for, I knew that there was no way she would have a meeting on the last day before we break for the holidays. In fact, they would've already been in holiday mode a whole week before the official closing date. What she said to me initially was probably right before the Christmas drug kicked in. The reason for my calls were basically to tell her that she's dreaming but she beat me to the punchline.

The feeling of Christmas for me here in Australia is very much different from Malaysia. In Malaysia, it's church service in the morning, big meals at restaurants or a party and hanging out in malls. In fact, every public holiday we get we somehow end up in malls.

Over here, everything is closed unless 7-Eleven's your dig. So, it has more of a homely and family oriented feeling to it. I'd even say it's more relaxed cos' hanging out at a beach where your eyeballs and mind get to stretch out a little and not caring about anything besides flies getting in your mouth seems pretty good to me.

Merry Christmas and stay safe on the roads.

PS: I've heard flies are a good source of protein so, don't fret too much.








PPS: *Do not open until after Christmas* I lied.