Surviving the
Christmas rush:
be brain fit
Dr. Jenny Brockis
It’s that time of year again.
The shopping malls all have their decorations up and
radio jocks have been telling us since September that
there are only “x” number of shopping days left until
Christmas. While it’s been possible to live in a blissful
state of denial so far, there’s no getting away from the
fact that it’s now December, and school holidays, end of
year preparations and Christmas are coming up fast.
So how do you tackle this crazy time with all it’s
silliness, Jingles and Mingles? There are probably
three options.
My colleague April*, approaches December with same
military precision she devotes to all her work. Her todo list is complete, colour coded for clarity. Christmas
presents have all been bought, wrapped and labelled.
Cards are written and in neat piles for family, friends
and business. The dog has been booked into a kennel
for while they entertain and she’s just awaiting delivery
of the Christmas crackers she ordered from the States
which are two days late. She has this strange calm
expression on her face, which I’m never quite sure
what it signifies. You might call it beatific. You could
also call it smug.
The second option was taken up by my pal June* who
has announced that she is about to head off overseas
with her family for a six week sojourn to Dubai, Italy
and Canada returning after Australia day. Lucky duck.
The third option, which is the one I seem to naturally
fall into every year despite thinking that things
could be different, is to assume that with 31 days
in the month there is of course loads of time to get
everything done. I mean we are only talking about
two actual days of public holiday when everyone can
sit back and relax with a nice glass of something cold
and wet, stuff our faces silly with lots of good food and
enjoy catching up with good friends and family. What
could be easier?
The trouble with the third option is that it assumes
Christmas is at the end of the month and so I’m never
ready for the 25th. The Christmas letter to the ‘rellies
doesn’t get sent until the New Year. That great idea for
a present for Uncle Ted, who is impossible to buy for,
isn ’t available until March and on top of that there are
work tasks waiting for completion, and new projects
waiting to get unpacked and developed properly to
roll out in the New Year.