Running in a 100% polyester Santa hat is like voluntarily placing your head in a blast furnace for 30 minutes. Having done exactly this yesterday (the hat, not the blast furnace), I can confirm that the material from which my festive headwear has been crafted boasts heat retaining properties that polar explorers would be delighted with. Unfortunately for me last night, however, it meant that the level of sweat pouring down my face was in no way reflective of the weather, or of the amount of effort I was putting into my run.
The occasion for my sweaty head run was an Under 11s Christmas lights jaunt around my home town. I have been helping out at the running club – which my son also attends – since picking up the injury that I have subsequently bored regular blog readers with for the past couple of months. As it was the last run of the year, festive adornments were obligatory and the chosen 5K route took in the best of the local lights.
Having not previously toured the area’s building-related Christmas extravagance, I was taken aback at the incredible array of lights, blow-up Santas, laser displays and rooftop reindeer that residents had selflessly put on, outside and atop their homes for local groups of touring children in high-viz vests to admire. It was like Christmas had exploded over the town.
The irony that 2020 has been such a dark and disappointing year was not lost on me as the children ooh’d and ahhh’d their way around the streets and side roads. Indeed, it was uplifting to see the effort that people had gone to in order to literally brighten up the abodes in which they had all presumably spent the vast majority of the year. Perhaps it’s because of a new found appreciation of home that folks are making an extra effort this year, either that or it’s because they’re so fed up with their surroundings that they’re doing everything they possibly can to disguise them as something else. Either way, if reflected across the rest of the country, the Christmas light industry has also presumably been one of the few to have had a bumper 2020.
Our run toured much of the town and, although stop-start for large periods as we passed homes with particularly impressive displays – including one with a giant inflatable Father Christmas in a helicopter (presumably having upgraded the sleigh) – it proved to be a rare moment of group-based joy in a year that has denied adults and children the opportunity to enjoy much together en masse.
No pantomimes, no school nativities, no carol singing, no concerts…our children have missed out on performing or taking part in traditional Christmas activities this year. Parents have also missed out on the chance to squeeze themselves into child-sized seats in overcrowded school halls in order to shed a proud tear at their little ones’ heartfelt portrayal of Sheep No.4. The lack of PTA-funded, post-performance mincepie and mulled wine, meanwhile, hasn't helped either!
So if you haven’t toured your local Christmas lights with your little ones yet, pick an evening when it’s not raining, wrap up warm if you’re walking – or choose your headwear carefully if you’re running – and turn a tour of your local neighbourhood’s Christmas lights into a festive highlight. Just remember to take your own mincepies.
Wishing you all a safe and happy Christmas.
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