Driving through White Waltham (near Maidenhead) yesterday, I thought to myself, “Every time I drive through this village, it seems to be flooded”.

Then I realised that every time I do that drive, it is when I am dropping off a Christmas gift to a client of mine in Maidenhead. Every year feels the same, it is like Groundhog Day. Big puddles, flooded fields and swollen rivers.

A New Tradition

When I was out with the dog earlier, as I trudged through the mud, I thought that we should rebrand Christmas. We could make it a period when it is traditionally wet. That way, most years it would really begin to feel like Christmas when the heavens opened.

It would take a while to implement, but rather than Christmas cards featuring a robin sat on a snow tipped red pillar box, we could have them featuring a car stuck in a flood or a soaking wet horse stood next to a swollen river.

As people in lowland areas frantically padded up their doors with sandbags, they could give the neighbour a wave and say “It really is beginning to feel like Christmas!” Their kids would be out playing in puddles and building mudmen.

Christmas Songs

Christmas songs could be re recorded with the word ‘white’ simply replaced by ‘wet’ and ‘snow’ replaced by ‘rain’. The Shakin Stevens timeless classic. ‘Merry Christmas Everybody’ could be changed to “Rain is falling (rain is falling) all around me (all around me) children playing, get soaked (getting soaked)”.

Bing Crosby’s ‘White Christmas’ could easily be turned in to ‘Wet Christmas’ and ‘Let it Snow’ could become ‘Let it Rain’. ‘Rain’ by The Cult, would be a timeless Christmas Classic, as would ‘Walking in the Rain’ by Oran ‘Juice’ Jones. Within five years our brains could be trained by skilled marketing to think a ‘Wet Christmas’ is traditional.

If in the unlikely event we had a series of cold December’s, we could get all nostalgic and long for the wet Christmases; just like the ones we used to know.

I am now looking out of my office window as the rain cascades down and the temperature hovers around nine centigrade. With subtle changes to my mindset, it really would be feeling just like Christmas!

Have a nice weekend!