Thursday night, at about 18:20, I will join up with a few hundred other folks in the city centre, where the festive season – and my ability to actually enjoy it – will officially begin as the city’s Christmas lights will be turned on.
I never did much of Christmas or Birthdays as a kid. I suffered from that near universal seriousness of the young… and seldom allowed myself the space to just enjoy some seasonal silliness, or allowed myself to celebrate for its own sake.
I have only two recollections of Christmas trees, for example. One was a big and impressive tree that belonged to someone else. The other was a tiny little thing hastily put up, declared too much work, and then banished from any future deployments.

Bubbles and myself are getting a big tree. And we’ll decorate it, too.

And all this kicks off when some city employee flips a switch.

If you’ve made up your mind to be happy, or to have a good time, you don’t need much more than flipping a switch.