Week 51: I Just Called | Christmas Amnesty

I am one of these quaint old people who still like to send and receive offline hardcopy Christmas card, the type you send in an envelope via snail mail. I like seeing you and your kids with santa hats and silly smiles and I don't mind if we assure one another that next year will be the one when we shall finally meet again even though we both know it's more than unlikely. The fact that I send you a Christmas card means that I won't feel the urge to wish you a Merry Christmas in WhatsApp emoji unless you do so and I feel I have to reply. I am a mildly resentful person, but with advanced age have come to realise that it feels better to let go of a grudge and the only thing you get from being better are ugly wrinkles. That being said, I choose to forgive and forget whenever I see fit. It may be Christmas, Easter or the beginning of a new year, but it may not be. Interestingly, quite a few people seem to wish for absolution and amnesty for Christmas and so I ended up being the somewhat reluctant bestower of these gifts to several people this past week. One "gentleman" (deliberate quotation marks) whose acquaintance I made this summer and had ghosted me for the past 2 months felt the urge to "hear your voice before Christmas" as he let me know in a text message following 2 unanswered phone calls. In the Christmas spirit of warm and fluffy feelings and not to come across as bearing a grudge (which in all honesty, I did) I ended up answering the third call, which I immediately regretted. I ended up annoyed and upset, but to shut him up literally told him he could have the Christmas amnesty he was obviously after and Merry Christmas (and good riddance). But hey, it is more blessed to give than to receive.