I have always been extremely opinionated about Christmas decorations on display before December. Years ago, it was up in November already and it irked me slightly. But I think the commercial lah-di-dah’s and extreme capitalists realised October gives you an extra month of Christmas spirit to be swayed into spending hard-earned money on more things you don’t need.

My issue with Christmas decorations in October is not for a lack of absolute adoration of the Christmas time and the deeper meaning it holds for me. It’s just, the focus is so much on the commercial aspect of it. In any given mall or shopping centre – Christmas lasts for 3 freak’n months. It’s just a little bit too much. Christmas surely should not last for a quarter of the year?

I did some Christmas planning a while ago and I love a Christmas theme. Now, I absolutely love Christmas in South Africa. It’s warm and you can swim and spend time with family and loved ones, all while a melting ice cream is dripping on your toes.  I have the best memories of eating too much food and waiting 20 minutes for the food to ‘go down’ before you swim again to prevent you from drowning. This is obviously an utter myth that many parents told their children for many different reasons.

So, this year’s theme is blue and sand. I will be nowhere near the beach and will be on standby, but I will bring the beach to me. Because we are not American or European, I have no interest in that snowball and Fraser fir traditions. So, I ordered my Christmas ideas online, for it to arrive in time.

It arrived last week Friday in a box I could not ignore. I opened it. And it was so, so pretty and sparkly.

So, I did a bit more than just peak at it…

I have spent a whole good conversation on my personal opinions on Christmas decorations on display before December in my first paragraphs of this blog. And at this very moment I have a summer Christmas tree in my living room. In November.

I am, a big hypocrite.

To clarify my reference to hypocrisy, I’m referring to the contradiction of one’s behaviour to what one claims to believe or feel.

Now, I will never like the over-capitalism when it comes to things like Christmas and Valentine’s day. I think these advertisements to buy things around these times is based on playing on the consumers emotions – and if it’s not been clear in all of my writings – I strongly oppose playing on people’s emotions or guilt-tripping them into things or even just subtle manipulation to get what one thinks they need. The moment you play on people’s emotions – it becomes more about you and what you want, and less about them. I think it’s selfish. So, because of that stance, I know that people can be easily swayed and manipulated – even when they think they can’t.

But I did have to face that I am a hypocrite, which of course made me think about this a bit deeper.

Our expectations of other people are sometimes ridiculously high, despite the fact that we say otherwise. When it comes to ourselves, however, we expect people to forgive us easily. Our apologies are quick, our motives slow. And that out of principle opens us up to behave hypocritical.

My Dad used to say – do what I say, don’t do what I do. I actually think a lot of parents have (and still are) saying that. For the most part, however, my Dad was pretty consistent in what he said and what he did. But a lot of our behaviours and words don’t exactly match up. I don’t think there is a person alive that does not at one stage or another fall short on this. Definitely not me.

I think that we can sometimes so easily think of ourselves as ‘victims’ of our surrounding circumstances. As if we don’t have control over so many things. Sure, there are a lot of things that we cannot control. But how we perceive situations or people – our attitude and outlook on life – that is well within control. I have mentioned that to hide things from yourself is heart-breaking to me. Recreate scenarios to suit us – which makes reality inconsistent. That to me is the biggest contradiction of all.

After advising others – do we follow the advise ourselves? When tell people to be positive – are we positive? When we make judgement on others’ lives – are we walking around with a clean slate – or does our mistakes just differ from those we find wanting?

I had a lot of thoughts in my head. I think the best way of how we can live is very simple – be consistent in what you say and do.

Now, I’ve spoiled it for myself. Can I complain about Christmas decorations at the end of November? Nope. Unless I know for sure that I won’t fall trap to whatever Christmas theme I decide on next. Which is a possibility, because: ‘oh-so-pretty’! But I will audibly sigh in slight annoyance in October.

I’d like to keep my hypocrisy to the things that does not have dire consequences. Everything else I’d like to strive for stability. Just a daily choice to ensure my words and actions match. It’s not easy, because it’s not something we think about up front. But maybe we should just be a bit more aware of our own words and actions.

Happy hippo-ing!