Christmas is all about traditions: repeating the same thing over and over, however silly it might be, because that’s just what you do at Christmas. But every time-honoured tradition has to start somewhere. In order to sell us tat we don’t need, and keep the PR industry ticking over, the holiday season has also become the time for all manner of daft fads, and celebs promising to give our favourite festive foods, games and pressies “a twist”. Not wanting to miss the (gravy) boat, I embarked on a spirited mission to try them all.
This year’s hotly touted Christmas trends include “burr baskets” – a care package of cosy items such as blankets and socks given as a pre-Christmas gift, which sounds like an unnecessary extra faff. Then there’s a lot of talk about “Thriftmas”: re-gifting and buying secondhand gifts from charity shops, which my friend and I havebeen doing for years. The best/worst such gift, from me to him, was probably an unofficial version of Guess Who? with most of the pieces missing. And from him to me: a used chocolate Advent calendar, with all the chocolate scoffed. Also on trend in the world of gifts this year is burgundy wrapping paper, although I say: what’s wrong with tinfoil, like in Gavin and Stacey?
