It’s a special time of year and so, to celebrate it, I wanted to do something special on I’m NOT Disordered for Christmas. I have decided to bring back the Christmassy Q&A I put together last year with the questions being from a YouTube video and have posed them to many different people from all of the country and doing all sorts of jobs, in all sorts of roles, living all kinds of lives!
So let’s kick off Day Three of 12 Days of Christmas with I'm NOT Disordered with the answers of Martin Baker, Author of High Tide Low Tide.
1.
When do you
start getting excited for Christmas Day?
About now! Most presents are bought and wrapped. Those which
needed to be posted have been sent off. Others will be delivered this weekend.
The tree is up and looking rather lovely. Twelve days to go, as I write this.
Bring it on!
2.
Do you still
have an advent calendar? If yes, which do you have and if no, when did you stop
having them?
Haven’t had one since I was little. (Yes they had Advent calendars
in prehistoric times!)
3.
What are your
favourite Christmas movies?
Die Hard 2 (the airport one, with all the snow!) and the Grinch. I
tend to associate Christmas with tv more than movies: I was raised on the
Morecambe & Wise Christmas Specials.
4.
Do you have
any funny Christmas stories/memories?
When I was young the wider family (aunts, uncles, cousins etc.)
would descend on one of the houses for a family gathering on Boxing Day. One
year – I was maybe eight or nine – it was our turn, which coincided with the
worst Christmas weather in years, with heavy snow, ice and fog. None of the
family had cars, and everyone ended up spending the night at our place. As
kids, it was lots of fun, but I don’t think my Mum and Dad were very impressed!
5.
What's your
typical Christmas Day?
I pop downstairs first and turn the Christmas tree lights on, then
we (me, my wife and son) go down together. We open our main presents and a
selection of other gifts from friends and family, leaving some for later in the
day (well that’s the theory!) Breakfast is tea/coffee and toast. I start
cooking the dinner about ten o’clock. My stepdaughter arrives around midday.
Dinner is from around 1:30. Christmas pudding an hour or so after the main
meal, once our tummies have settled! Rest of the day is for chilling out. Tv, music,
conversation. Throughout the day I will have connected with friends online.
6.
What do you
eat for you Christmas dinner? And what is your favourite part of it?
Roast chicken and pigs-in-blankets for the carnivores. Veggie
sausages for me! Roast potatoes, roast parsnips, baked onions, baked sweet
potato, new potatoes, Brussels sprouts, carrots, stuffing, gravy, cranberry
sauce, apple sauce. Christmas pudding and custard to follow. I love the roast
veggies and Christmas pud best. Not on the same plate.
7.
Do you have
any Christmas traditions?
A number of years ago, my wife and I introduced the “Christmas
Rules” in our house – a printed list of (half-joking!) rules to be followed on
Christmas Eve and Christmas morning: what time to go up to bed; what time to
settle down to sleep; what time the kids could open their stockings (quietly!);
what time they could visit each other’s rooms; what time they could visit us!.
We’ve kept the tradition going, adjusting the timings from year to year, though
it’s just for a laugh now.
8.
What are your
favourite Christmas songs?
“Fairytale of New York” (The Pogues and Kirsty
MacColl); “I Believe In Father Christmas” (Greg Lake); “Baby, it’s
Cold Out There!” (Tom Jones and Cerys Matthews); “Sweet Bells” (album) (Kate
Rusby)
9.
What has been
your favourite Christmas present?
My best Christmas present when I was a child was a wooden fort my
Dad made for me. To continue the tradition many years later, I made my son a
wooden pirate ship, and my stepdaughter a wooden dolls house. When my son was
little, he gave me a one-eyed cuddly gorilla he’d bought at his school fete. He
bought all our presents that year at the fete for a total of 30 pence. It’s the
thought that counts, after all!
10.
Do you prefer
a real or fake Christmas tree?
We have a lovely fake one we got about ten years ago. Still going
strong! When the kids were little we had real trees. One year they sold out in
the local shops so I had to go further afield. Apparently you are not allowed
to take a 6 foot Christmas tree on the Metro, so I had to carry it home. Took
about an hour and a half trudging through the snow. Never again!
11.
This year, do
you think you'd be on the naughty or nice list?
I think that’s for other folk to say, not me! (What do you think,
Aimee?)
12.
Do you prefer
giving or receiving presents?
Great question! I used to focus much more on giving than on
receiving. I didn’t necessarily give expensive gifts, but plenty of them. I
would be grateful (or believed I was being grateful) for what I received but
didn’t really mind too much if someone got me a gift or not, or what it was.
(Very few people have ever managed to get me things which really resonate with
me, so that may be part of it.) It is only in the past few years that I
have realised how unbalanced and – like anything unbalanced – unhealthy my
attitude has been. I see now that over-gifting can be unwelcome to the
recipient, especially if they feel unable to reciprocate (the fact I never
expected or needed anything in return is beside the point). I have been pushy –
at times borderline aggressive – with my gifting, which is not a good place to
be or to put others in. I have also reassessed my attitude to receiving. Not
caring about what others choose to offer me is being neither generous nor truly
grateful. It is disrespectful to the other person, and to myself.
13.
Where would
be your dream place to spend Christmas?
Maine.
14.
Are you good
at wrapping presents?
I am a gift wrapping Ninja.
15.
What time do
you usually get up on Christmas morning? Is this different from when you were
little?
As per the Christmas Rules (see #7)!! This year it will probably
be around 9 a.m. I don’t remember Christmas mornings when I was little, but I
imagine they started early!
16.
How old were
you when you found out that Santa wasn't real? And how did you find out?
AIMEE, WHAT ARE YOU SAYING??????!!!!!!! I don’t remember when I
found out – likely at junior school. We “did the Father Christmas thing” for
our kids when they were little. We left out a mince pie and glass of mulled
wine for him, and a carrot for Rudolph, on Christmas Eve, and Santa presents
were always wrapped in different paper than the ones from us. Christmas
stockings were placed at the foot of the kids’ beds once they had (hopefully!)
fallen asleep. But at the same time I have always felt odd about it. The
“Magic of Christmas” vs lying to your kids. I hate the whole “he’s checking his
list” thing: the implicit threat parents hold over their kids’ heads to behave
or Santy won’t come. And, somehow, no matter how good the kids from poor
families are, they never get the reward that kids from rich families get,
naughty or nice. Hardly a great lesson in social justice (although, sadly, an
accurate one).
17.
What is your
dream Christmas present?
I find this hard to answer (see my answer to #13 re gifting), not
least because I have pretty much all the material things I could want. Seeing
our book (“High Tide, Low Tide: The Caring Friend’s Guide to Bipolar Disorder”)
on the NYT best sellers list would be pretty cool, if you can arrange it!
18.
Have you
asked for anything this year? If yes, what?
I put a list together at my son’s request. It includes ground
coffee, plain chocolate, a sealing wax set for sealing letters, and a Midori
brass pencil to complement my Midori Travellers Notebooks. I’ll let you know
how I get on! (Hugs are also welcome.)
19.
If you could
spend Christmas with anyone – living or dead, celebrity or someone you know –
who would it be?
My bestie Fran, in Maine.
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