Do they know it's Christmas? YES I bloody do.

There’s always a couple ways you can tell it’s Christmas time. And I mean without looking at the date.

- Pepernoten are 70% off.
- You find bottles of wine, tequila and other alcoholic goodies in your living room. “Politics,” Dad says.
- What was first your favourite colour has now become a colour that sickens you. Red.
- Every radio station has had a Christmas sing-along hour and you now know Queen’s Thank God It’s Christmas by heart.
- Annie is on TV. As is The Sound Of Music, Lord of the Rings and Home Alone.
- The number of toy and electronics commercials have risen by at least 10%.
- All I want for Christmas gets played in your school auditorium.
- Even though it’s two in the morning it’s still light outside. The lights in the trees and the bright red Santa’s guide you home.
- The Tokkies are on TV.
- Your little brother asks for a new Xbox game that he was planning to buy himself weeks ago.
- Mom offers you alcohol. Twice. In one evening.
- Your credit speeds down to zero.
- You feel guiltier than usual when you decline to donate to charity.
- People brabble about Jack Skeleton again.
- Dad gets in a DIY-mood and is determined to do everything himself. You go to IKEA and come back with only a trashcan, when what you really wanted was a desk. Next day you're off to Gamma and return with a bit of wood that over the holidays should transform into a desk.

Christmas is weird. When else do you get to bring a dead tree into your house? When else is it okay to force feed yourself? When else do you see tipsy family members?

I really miss the red Coca-Cola trucks, though. I haven't seen them once this year. =[

Ohh yeah. Happy holidays everyone.