Between Christmas and New Year: Black Hole Week

Much is written about the Christmas festivities and the New Year celebrations, but the time between these two holidays is like a black hole or time warp where money is spent, vast amount of food is consumed and people tend to lose their memories and inhibitions for an entire week. A combination of disrupted sleeping patterns, spending patterns and drinking patterns could become a holiday from hell for those trying to save their money, livers and figures.

Ask anybody what they did after Christmas and before New Year and they will scratch their head and struggle to remember what they were doing other than eating and partying. The Christmas shopping is over and presents have been unwrapped, but everybody is still on holiday and spending money that they pretend not to have in these rough economic times. Petrol is a major expense and the other fuel is alcohol that makes people overindulge in food and spending that starts the cycle of overspending again. It is no wonder that there are road blocks everywhere and the police are visible in droves! Drinking and driving during the festive season become as related as work and stress during the year. The roads are filled with people on leisurely drives to nowhere and the roads are quiet at rush hour, yet busy for the rest of the day. Stress manifests itself as road rage and drunken arguments on the roadside when everybody is moving at a different pace. It is not even safe indoors as “shopping seething” occurs when walking behind slow families in busy shopping centres when all you want to do is pop in for bread and then find the closest exit while those strollers in front of you would make a tortoise appear fast. The post-Christmas sales draw many browsers, but all the presents have been purchased and money has been spent before Christmas. I think that these sales are a cruel tactic to get the consumer to hate themselves for spending double the money on a present only to discover that they could have saved money if they had waited a week. People should be at their most hygienic and heaviest after Christmas when everybody gets bath and beauty products and chocolates as gifts. Sadly, braai meat, salad and beer never goes on sale, but it is what most South Africans spend the festive season doing while being social.

Many wasted k’s (kilograms and kilometres) are added to the vehicle and the body that is regretted later and always an excuse for a resolution that involves losing weight, saving money or being more efficient. Holidays and weekends are the best time to exercise as the gyms are quiet and there is more time to plan a routine and avoid the cravings by exercising regularly. There is more time to read an informative article at the pool instead of paging through the magazine on the run or in a waiting room. Sadly reading anything always induced sleep and the more frequent afternoon naps become, the more tired we get. It is strange that vacationers sleep later in the morning, but need that afternoon nap as much as desert after dinner and when the time comes to return to work, we need another holiday.

Black Hole Week is a blur of noise and nothingness and hangovers. This Week-ness is our reward for working hard in the year, but it makes the return to real life more challenging. It also makes New Year’s Resolutions difficult and returning to work impossible.