With Christmas now just five weeks away, there seems to be consensus that this is going to be the toughest festive season we’ve had in many years.
The financial experts say most things, like food and petrol, are a lot more expensive and many workers won’t have big bonuses to smile about at the end of the year.
And it’s apparently affecting everybody, from those earning basic wages, to those earning very well.
Most people like to spoil themselves and their family at the end of the year. It’s a global tradition to say goodbye to the old and welcome in the new.
But it’s also a way of rewarding ourselves for another year of hard work and to re-energise us for the year ahead. We let our hair down and spend a little more freely on ourselves and our loved ones. The kids are also on holiday, so we indulge their whims and demands for luxuries and outings, min gepla oor geld.
But I think the reality has struck home for many of us, that there’s just too much month left at the end of the money. That road trip will have to be put on hold, and your annual trip to Goudini or Montague will have to be cut short too. Man, it’s even become impossible to have a lekker, proper braai by the sea; everybody just throws bring ‘* braais nowadays, because the chops are just too expensive.
And that all means that Black Friday, in three days’ time, is going to be a mass wrestling match again. Last year, I personally witnessed people very nearly coming to blows over some of the bargains that were up for grabs.
Many people are going to use Friday’s bargains to stock up on all their requirements for the big days, so that they can at least have a feast on Christmas day.
Because if the predictions are true, we are not going to be able to spoil ourselves and our kids this season. And making loans to get through is not an option, because that would mean that 2017 will start off on as bad a note as 2016 ended.
Don’t do it! Unfortunately the shops are also going to feel it.
Although it started out so lekker with all that Leap Year stuff, 2016 has turned out to be a big disappointment; a complete waste of a year.
We went from one political scandal — ZuptaGate to another — Brian Molefe; the students lost their minds, Brexit, the school hair debate, the new Agent Orange Donald Trump, Thuli Madonsela forced to leave us, Mandoza passing on and Mugabe is still president of Zimbabwe. It’s like someone cursed 2016.
In the future, 2016 is going to be like that one cousin that everybody avoids talking about; the one who had so much promise as a child, but then suddenly, without warning just went off the rails.
Not even the other years will want to have anything to do with 2016. I can’t wait for this year to end, because it doesn’t matter what next year has in store, it’s probably going to be a whole lot better than 2016, now officially known as “The Grinch that stole Christmas.”