Tuesday 13 December 2016

Taking The Hassle Out Of Christmas

Some people find the Festive season stressful, more and more i hear people getting worked up about the million and one things that need to be done before December 25th rolls around on the calendar and i think i may have come up with the answer, simply change the calendar.
I don't mean take down the one with kittens in various cute poses hanging in the kitchen and replace it with one of topless fireman, i mean ditch the new Gregorian version for the old Julian one.
Ever since Pope Gregory decided to ditch Julius Cesar's method for telling what the date is, December 25th has been on December 25th but under the Julian calendar December 25th was actually on January 7th.
This quirk came about when we changed calendars in 1752, the Pope shifted the date on eleven days and since then, they have drifted another two days apart as 1800 and 1900 were leap years in the Julian version, but not in the Gregorian and anyway, the Julian way had been good enough for 1,500 years before a man with a funny hat stuck his oar in.      
So with the new old calendar, Christmas Day would now be January 7th which means not only an extra 13 shopping days but the January sales will be on so that's a massive saving on presents straight away.
As most people take down their decorations before twelfth night on 5th December, dragging home the neighbours discarded Deluxe Danish Pine Christmas Tree is another huge saving.  
December 25th and 26th are bank holidays so everyone gets them off regardless of if they want them or not but as a follower of the Julian calendar, you will get January 7th off also, woe betide any employer who tries to stop you taking a day off for your beliefs.
Finally, you get to dodge the awful Office Christmas Party and you get to celebrate New Years on January 14th so you avoid the guilt of spending Gregorian New Years Eve in a sweaty pub necking your 10th bottle of Bacardi Breezer and singing Whitney Houston songs while the barman tries to entice you down from the table with cake or spending it with your parents drinking tea. 
The best thing though is that you can change back to the Gregorian Calendar and lose those 13 days again later in the year, a few days before your partners birthday would be especially cost saving.

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