The real problem I have with Haigh’s $1275 Luxury Advent Calendar, ready now to order

It’s not so much the cool $1275 price tag of Haigh’s aptly-named “luxury” advent calendar that has me hyperventilating.

Being reminded the countdown to Christmas is about to start again is too much for some.

Be warned, reading this column may set loose the John Lennon earworm, “So this is Christmas and what have you done? Another year over, a new one just begun …”

It did for myself and my colleagues when I mentioned the legendary songwriter’s 1971 classic Happy Xmas (War is Over) when penning these words.

So apologies in advance. It’s just stories on the impending festive season, tend to get my heart palpitating, no matter if it is the sweet yarn about a trio of Paralowie R-12 students who’ve won the judges over with their Christmas barbecue-designed pageant mini float.

Or, a feel-good social media post about a Pulteney Grammar School year 11 student who has been tasked by pageant director Brian Gilbertson with singing the National Anthem to ring in the 91st Adelaide event.

But it was learning during the week that Haigh’s has released its aptly-named “luxury” advent calendar – the one that’ll cost you a cool $1275 – that really has me hyperventilating.

Haigh's Chocolates allows you to ‘Indulgently, count the days to Christmas’. Picture: Supplied

While personally I can’t say no to a handful of the famed South Australian chocolatier’s milk coffee pastilles – especially when teamed with a glass of good red on a cool spring night – I can’t imagine what it must be like to be the type of person who can drop more than twelve hundred dollars on a countdown-to-Christmas calendar.

(Haigh’s website tempts: “Indulgently, count the days to Christmas … inside this handcrafted calendar, there are 24 days of specially-curated handmade chocolates, including one-off more-ish creations to share and enjoy in the countdown to Christmas Day.”)

Cost-of-living crisis aside, I am not mocking anyone who views securing one of these decadent calendars a necessary pre-Christmas tradition, more power to you.

It’s just I’m not ready for the whole countdown-to-Christmas thing, full-stop.

I’ve no desire to be reminded of just how quickly another year is whizzing by; to be forced to think about all the things I’ve not yet achieved in 2023 beyond again lacking the resolve to reduce the size of my thighs.

I’m not ready for the whole countdown-to-Christmas thing, full-stop. Picture: iStock

To be honest, I’m not sure I’ve yet caught up on my 2003 “to-do” list. I can’t help wishing I could hit rewind on so many moments that have passed by in a blur; the kids’ first days at school, my eldest’s last day of high school and the countless little things in between.

To go back and redo the things I missed the first time around, such as the primary school Book Week memo I overlooked, my two arriving in regular uniform amid a parade of wondrous costumes.

Or, at the very least to hit pause for a bit. To just sit and be still.

I recall my late, dear Dad often lamented the fact you couldn’t bottle precious times, to relive and enjoy at leisure. I used to think it was a cute sentiment but now I get it.

Google tells us we’ve just 85 days until the Big Man in Red next visits which, according to my less-than-average maths skills, means it’s been 280 days since he was last here.

Perhaps it is just a tired, middle-aged working mum thing (it’s true, a national study by McCrindle Research finds Gen X women, those born between 1965 and 1980, along with their younger Gen Y female counterparts, 1981 to 1994, are, in fact, the nation’s busiest and most “pressed for time”).

But seriously, where did that time go? How can we be “jing, jing-a-linging” our way to another festive season?

During the week, my interstate family asked what plans I had for Christmas – no doubt Mum has the Grand Marnier at hand, ready to soak the fruit for this year’s cake.

But really, I am not sure what we are doing these school holidays, and they start tomorrow.

What I can tell you is, I’ve no intention of pre-ordering my “limited edition” Haigh’s calendar no matter how “generously filled with a decadent selection of specialty chocolates … for two people to enjoy” it is. Or, any other festive countdown

Instead, I’m going to try to take a breath and focus on the people and things that matter most, caring less about what I’ve not yet done; to stretch out these last few months of 2023 as long as I can; to soak up the everyday moments as they unfold.

After all, as 19th century US writer Alice Morse Earle famously said: “Time flies. Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present.”