They must be crackers!

On her blog, Helene Young asked recently, “What do you love most at this time of year”. http://www.heleneyoung.com/2012/12/whats-it-to-you/ and I left a comment that was probably a bit ba-humbug.

I’ll explain why…

If you were to come to my house in December you would be completely underwhelmed by tinsel, fake snow and festive glitter; no tree (hate plastic and I refuse to cut a real one anymore); no gifts (I prefer ‘just because’ gifts throughout the year).

I am not a Christmas person. I do appreciate the tradition and the meaning, and I remember as a child the excitement of waking up to a Christmas tree cluttered with parcels, but these days, I am older, wiser … more frugal! (Besides, December/January also happens to be the busiest of time for my B&B. No rest for the wicked, as they say!)

I’m not all ba-humbug, though. I am really just more of a NYE girl—always have been; and no, not for the reasons you are thinking! It is not the partying, the champagne, the countdown. And it’s certainly not the fireworks.

Since 2001 I’ve boycotted fireworks. (I’m probably the only one who cheered when they banned crackers and cracker night years ago!) Since then, I’ve never understood why we have to spend so much money sending hundreds of thousands of dollars into the sky for a single night’s entertainment when we have people living in poverty, volunteer emergency services personnel who should be paid in gold … Okay, I’ll stop. You get my point!

Why am I writing this now?

Remember the Black Christmas bushfires that burnt for almost three weeks from 25 December 2001 across New South Wales? It was the longest continuous bushfire emergency in NSW history. Low rainfall across winter & spring 2001 combined with a hot, dry December created ideal conditions for bushfires.

On Christmas Day, strong westerly winds fuelled more than 100 bushfires across NSW, creating a plume of smoke that extended across Sydney. This plume of smoke did not clear for some days as the bushfires continued to burn, creating some of the worst pollution that Sydney has ever experienced. **

So I was surprised (and a little disappointed) that Sydney went ahead with its NYE
fireworks spectacular, despite fires burning Lane Cove National Park, the Royal National Park & Blue Mountains National Park. I thought, they must be crackers! Overall approximately 3,000 square kilometres (740,000 acres) were burnt. 121 homes were destroyed across the state and 36 damaged, mostly in the lower Blue Mountains and west of the Royal National Park around Helensburgh. So intense, Sydney made CNN News and The New York Times, and smoke could be seen from space.

I know the NYE fireworks mean a significant income for the City, and people travel from all over the world (I guess that’s something to be proud of). But as I sit here watching the catastrophic fire conditions of January 2013 unfold I have to hope some of those multi-millions of tourist dollars we’ve collected over the years are going to help those brave souls in the thick of it right now.

As you can see, NYE no longer glitters for me in quite the same way. Instead, the festive season is solitary and very personal moment as I not only look towards the future but also reflect. What I did—what I didn’t do—and how I can be a better person, a better partner, a better friend, a better sister, daughter, aunty…

Personally, NYE 2012 was a time to reflect on a year of such incredible highs and lows and so, when the clock struck midnight a little over a week ago, I added one more thing to the list for 2013…

How can I be a better author?

May 2013 make you a better ‘something’ too.

(Thank *Wiki and Credit: Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC )