Christmas time. mistletoe and whine

The gallery is closing on Sunday for the Christmas holidays. I have relatives coming over to our house on boxing day so the car crash will begin. We moved into our new house in August and have sweated and bled our way to make it half presentable. There is now the pressure to sort out artwork for all the rooms. For a gallery owner my house should be an awesome showcase of artwork that has people gawping at the walls in wonder. I guess like top chefs who go home and have beans on toast, I haven't sorted even one wall out with loverly artwork.
The great thing is that i'm in the customers shoes only I have to kit out the entire house. The difference will be immense. When the builders came round to the gallery when It was completed, painted and with work hung on the walls they were stuck for words. The walls look forlorn and barren wthout any art on them and I am frequently reminded of this during changeover every 5 weeks.
So I will have to accept people into my forlorn barren house having not had the time to sort out some top art. This Christmas it will be a time to maybe get a few comissions ordered and select something to give company to the lonesome walls.
Christmas used to fill me with dread. Dread is perhaps too strong a word. Unease is perhaps more apt. A wanton display of forced festivity, totally devoid of any kind of meaning whatsoever. I used to get really drunk Christmas eve and have a lie in, a casual shower, then make my way downstairs. Christmas doesn't warrant losing sleep, Christmas shouldn't cause any more stress than any other bank holiday. What a miserable git.
My Christmas Nonchalance has been waning of late. My wife, Katie, treats Christmas exactly the same now to when she was 5 years old. She has just finished bouncing around the lounge saying how pretty the tree looks now we have all the lights up on it. On the big day she gets up at 5am, bounces around in her PJs and is exhausted by 3pm and has to have a nap.
This excitement is infectious and my hard Scrooge edge has softened. So here i go. its difficult to say and still makes me gag a little.
Merry Christmas