1984

When I was a child, we used to make the Christmas tree every 8 December. We were dreaming of the day when we would have a real one and not the plastic one fitting our living room - and surviving us children's ability to raze anything within our reach.

When I was a child, you wanted to be a "Duran Duran" or a "Spandau Ballet" fan. I liked them both and then they sang together a beautiful Christmas song. In my childhood, also "We are the world" was a Christmas song. And the Gremlins were a bit scary.

Now Christmas is coming every year but at the same time it is like not coming back. Childhood, for better or for worse, will never come back. Waking up on Christmas day to open presents will not come back. Simon Le Bon and Tony Hadley will never sing together again. Parents will not come back again.

Yet, I see no reason for not making a Christmas tree every year by 8 December, and for not leaving its lights on to have them welcoming me back home in the evening. Perhaps, a good thing about childhood memories is that you can pick what you like and leave the rest in some forgotten corner of your new self.

And my 1984 Christmas can come back whenever I decide it. Here and now, for example :)