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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 7, Issue 7 (December 1, 1932)

Mind over Matter-of-factness

Mind over Matter-of-factness.

Christmas is a seasonal complaint which affects the mind and elevates it to a state bordering on humanity. It is mental rather than ornamental, although it is not unusual for the victim to suffer from “spots” and swellings. However, the symbols are ethereal rather than material, although it is permissible to produce such evidence of gilt as a goose quiescent on a plate of gravy, or a duff ambient between crossed spoons. Still, Christmas reposes mainly in the upper reaches of the life stream, and it is more appropriate to celebrate the significance of the season on an ice floe with a cold sausage and a warm heart, than to impersonate the season's salubrity in a mansion of aching hearts with a magnum of champagne and an embalmed peacock.

Consequently, Christmas may rightly be described as an altitudinisation of the mental plane, irrespective of the meateorological outlook or the victory of mind over matter-of-factness. Coming closer to “terra ferment;” when Christmas approaches and the “duffers” mould their glucose globules, and the poulterers join forces with the taxidermists, something besides the anticipation of gustatory interment and liquidatory con-ferment stimulates the sub-conscious tiddlewinks. This is the real spirit of Christmas, working while you sleep.