Day 52: happy birthday Jesus.

It’s ya birthday, it’s ya birthday, gonna party like it’s ya birthday. Or… gonna get up and eat crepes for breakfast. Make a coffee and open some presents. Scrape some spuds and go up to my Aunty’s. (Actually Dad scraped the spuds.) I don’t know if fiddy cent would approve of my new lyrics. Anyway, Christmas Day is almost over. It was the kind of lush yet pleasantly relaxed affair I thought it would be. The food my Aunty put on was freakin delicious and we managed to stuff ourselves without making ourselves sick. I got some great presents, people liked the ones I gave, and Dad and I are about to sit down and watch some of the Alistair Cooke America DVD set Dad got from me. All in all it’s been an enjoyable and stress-free day. There have however been many moments today when I thought a drink would be a damn nice idea. Not to get through any stressful moment, or boring conversation (all the conversation was really interesting and the whole event was perfectly chilled) but just because it would have been nice. A nice glass of Veuve Cliquot would have been decidedly better than my sparkling grape juice (way too sweet). An ice cold beer would have been nice on their verandah as the temperature started to climb (it was uncharacteristically hot in Christchurch today, at 29 degrees C). And right now a glass of chilled sauvignon blanc would go down a treat. But these are the moments that abstaining, or one’s commitment to it, are all about. Aren’t they? Or maybe not. I mean, it’s not like I’d be using Christmas Day to work on the music project under any normal circumstances right? And chances are Boxing Day would usually be out too. So would it really hurt to have an alcoholic beverage or three across the course of a day and an evening? Probably not. Except that’s not the deal. Not this year at least. Maybe though, we will make a note that Christmas is one of those occasions where a little tipple seems entirely appropriate. Not a big honking munt fest, but a clink and a sip or two to celebrate the day and the generally relaxed and free status of a human on holiday. In any case, another hulking event has been survived. Onward sober soldiers.