It’s amazing how often it’s Christmas time that, as an expat,
you start to feel a little homesick.
Or at least start to notice the “special” things that mark Christmas
for you. For some it’s the Queens speech at 3 p.m. – it feels
strange to get it at a different time of day. For others it can be the size
of local turkeys, my wife’s family love turkey and always buy a large
one – to her a 2.5 kilo turkey, which is fairly standard in Switzerland,
is “under-developed” and should be “thrown back to grow
up”.
For me the thing which I miss about Christmas is also part of one of my greatest annoyances about Christmas. It is the Christmas Musak. (For those of you unclear about what Musak is, it is the “background music” they play in stores, lifts etc. to encourage shoppers to be in the mood to shop.) Here in Switzerland it is as prevalent as anywhere else and seems to be exclusively in English. However at Christmas I have noticed that some of the songs you hear so often in the UK aren’t played in this country… and (sad thing that I am) I miss them.
OK I hear you asking what fabulous, spiritually up lifting songs do I miss?
Is it ... Once in Royal David’s City? ... No.
Is it ...Hark the Herald Angel Sings? ... No. Is it ... Away In A Manger…
Deck The Halls…Little Drummer Boy... Mary’s Boy Child… Il
Dulci Jubilo… God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Walking in the Air, White
Christmas? No, No, No, No!, NO!, NO!, NO!.
It’s (and this is what makes me so sad) none of these. Indeed for me
the top three Christmas tunes for Musak in stores are Joint third - Ring out
Solstice Bells by Jethro Tull & Christmas Wrapping by The Waitresses;
Second – I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday by Wizzard; and First
- Merry Christmas Everybody by Slade. (Yes I know this is four songs but I
never claimed I was good at counting.)
Merry Christmas Everybody!
