Silly season is here again and despite the economic doom and gloom, most of my work colleagues are mentally preparing themselves for the last weekend of shopping before Christmas.

They are all looking pretty grim at the prospect of having to fight their way through crowds of similarly miserable folk, in order to get those last few bits and pieces that they all seem to view as essential to their enjoyment of the day. Many of them seem to be trying to psyche themselves up into having a good time with it all; you can almost hear them muttering: "Christmas WILL be fun" repeatedly through clenched teeth. I can imagine there will be more than a few stressed, twitching staff in the office on Monday.

Which is why I'm bloody grateful that I'm not joining the zombie shopping throng.

Some years ago, Su and I decided that the whole Christmas thing was just not worth the hassle. We don't have kids and my family are 14,000 miles away in NZ. Likewise, Su's family are all up north and even her nieces and nephews are now mostly getting to the age where they know that Santa is a myth.

And neither of us enjoys shopping at the best of times. The idea of having to spend a day traipsing around soulless, crowded shopping malls to get some bit of tat that neither of us gives two figs about anyway is just not on the table, especially at this time of year. We both mostly tend to plan the shopping we are occasionally forced to do (at least if we want to eat) like a military exercise; work out what we need, then work out how to get in, get it and get out as quickly as possible.

We don't bother with any of the other trappings either; no tree, decorations, xmas dinner et all. Christmas dinner in our house is normally a jointly-cooked stir-fry with whatever ingredients happen to be in the cupboards and the fridge, while a little Miles Davis plays on the stereo and we work our way through a half-decent bottle of wine (one for the pot and one for the cooks ). This is mostly followed by a DVD or a little guitar for me and a good book for her. We even manage to have a conversation or two.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not Scrooge; I enjoy catching up with a fair number of friends I haven't seen for awhile during the break and I equally enjoy the opportunity for a bit of time in self-contemplation, without the urgent need to do something or be somewhere. I just don't feel the need to spend large amounts of money I don't have, on crap I don't need.

This approach has now become so normal to me that I'm finding myself starting to view the traditional Christmas as one of the weirdest times of the year. I mean let's face it: it's the only time of the year when most folks sit around a dead or dying tree that they've dragged into their living room, eating candy out of their socks!

Anyway, here's hoping that the rest of the western world manages to get whatever they feel they need to give them all that warm glow of pointless consumerism and that they don't forget to save the receipts and get extra batteries for all the new toys.

Meanwhile, I think I'll open a bottle a few days early.

Cheers!