Act 347

Look for authenticity

Today was a contrast in thanks.

This morning I helped run the annual Breakfast with Santa event. The kids were delighted and delightful. The mood was festive, calm and appreciative. The volunteers were amazing. Santa worked his usual magic. The food was yummy. The event was open and free to all who wished to attend.

This evening, I attended a corporate Christmas party (an oxymoron if you ask me). The mood wasn’t nearly as festive. Could have been the fake Christmas trees, smoke machine or flashy dance lights. Might have been the loud PA system that blared through dinner. I don’t know. I felt overwhelmed at what I can only call the artificialness of it all, as rude as it is of me to say. The food was ordinary, the drinks overpriced, the conversation impeded by all the extra noise.

Once upon a time, I would have fallen under the spell of a fancy dress up night, a big ballroom and a shiny roast beef buffet but I see now that it’s all manufactured meaning.

This morning’s event was a lot of work. But I felt the appreciation and gratitude of it. This evening’s event was genuinely intended to be a thank you for another year of hard work but, to be quite honest, I didn’t feel thanks, I felt taken, even trapped by the fakeness of it all.

I’m happy to be back in the most authentic place of all for me; my house, my  jammies, my tree, my kids.