It's that time again!

My, doesn't time fly?!

How is it Sunday night all over again?

It doesn't seem 10 minutes since I was last sat here typing some words on screen for you to read and cutting it a little fine to not break my target of blogging once a week at the first hurdle!

Well here we are again...a wintery Sunday night after another long week (& weekend) at work and the sudden realisation that the clock is ticking ever closer to that weekly deadline!

And as the minutes tick away we also get ever closer to the final month of 2014... December (not that there is usually a different final month of each year but just bear with me)... a time of year that brings reflection, anticipation, celebrations and all manner of family gatherings.

So with that in mind I suppose I should use this blog to reflect upon what has the past week taught us since you heard from me last and look forward in anticipation to what the month ahead will hold?

Well other than work getting in the way (sorry I know I promised I wouldn't!), this past week has taught me one thing... sometimes we embrace the wrong parts of other societies...particularly from our American friends across the pond.

For this past week saw "Black Friday" arrive on these shores in it's greatest onslaught yet.
I for one fell victim to crashed websites and heavy traffic.

All in the name of grabbing a bargain...which is fine if we all remember that we are civil human beings... something a few hundred of the people I saw reported across the news stations seemed to have forgotten!

But what those same people are forgetting is that so called "Black Friday" exists in America due to their culture and history...something lost in translation as it makes its way across the water and over here simply in the form of queues, stampedes and aforementioned crashed websites.

In it's earliest sense, "Black Friday" has a history littered with racial connotations but in more recent time, it is part of the American holiday season and a mad dash to the shops the day after Thanksgiving to see what bargains can be had.

However, it seems to me that we are simply picking and choosing the parts of their culture that suit us (and the retailers) best... on this occasion we go crazy trying to get something new for ourselves or for one of the many Christmas presents we need to buy and conveniently forget to "give thanks" for the things that we do have.

Truth is when it comes to Christmas... no scrap that, when it comes to the whole of December and it seems now even earlier, we all get affected in one way or another. It's hard to escape even if you don't celebrate, as anyone that tries to simply "nip out to the shops" will attest to.

For some, this time of year brings magic and joy. For others...well...not so much!

For me, the build up and magic of Christmas starts now. December is when I let that festive spirit take hold. There's no stopping it and this year is no exception. With the countdown already on to finishing work, the list of presents to buy slowly being ticked off and the excitement of spending lazy days watching festive films and wrapping presents as well as pretty much every weekend planned in with family and friends, something tells me it's going to fly by!

Whichever way you look at it we should all enjoy the good times when they come and embrace whatever lies ahead...even if it does take twice as long due to queues!

I for one will open door number one on my advent calendar tomorrow (that's right, you're never too old!) and each day after that and be thankful for the many things I have in my life... right before I let work get in the way all over again, wonder where the days are going, search high and low for the remaining Christmas presents I need to get and try to fit a social life in as well.

It's a crazy time...but man do I love it! Happy December everyone!