True Christmas Spirit

My question is simple…have we forgotten the true purpose of Christmas?

What is Christmas to you?

Is it just a chance to indulge your greed with gifts galore and mountains of food and gallons of alcoholic liquid? Tonnes of wrapping paper floating around aimlessly in a multicoloured sea of glitter and bows. Even more cranberry and cinnamon bubble bath, body lotion and the odd glittery shower gel to cram into the, already full from the last five Christmases, bathroom cupboard.

Turkey accompanied by ornamental trimmings, purely there for effect such as sprouts, chipolatas wrapped in bacon and stuffing balls, a Christmas Day must-have in every celebrating household. Turkey accompanied with fresh, thick slabs of white bread for tea with cold stuffing and a healthy helping of cranberry sauce. Turkey curry and turkey sandwiches alternated for the next seven days. Turkey, turkey, turkey!

And alcohol, the greatest indulgence of all, justified of course by the ‘event’. Bucks Fizz with breakfast, sparkling wine with lunch, a sherry or brandy to warm you up at tea time with a mince pie or two on the side. And out come the big boys to help prolong the atmospheric evening – whisky, gin, vodka – you name it, you’ve got it. And on Boxing Day, in a bid to prove that hair of the dog is best to cure a banging headache and an upset stomach (which had nothing to do with the amount of alcohol absorbed into your blood the night before of course!!)

Christmas, in all honesty, is the only time of the year where weight watchers points don’t count, green and red ‘sins’ are forgotten and slimfast milkshakes mysteriously turn into baileys! The indulgence is justified as ‘because it’s Christmas!’ Who are we to argue with that?!

Or is it about awakening the little ones’ imagination to the magical world of Father Christmas with his reindeer and sleigh? A mince pie and a teeny weeny glass of sherry left for on the kitchen table on Christmas Eve an advanced gratitude gift for dear old Santa as he travels around bringing joy to children in every corner of the world. Well, he didn’t get that big belly from eating celery sticks now did he?!

Carrots left outside for Rudolph and his colleagues to munch on whilst Santa silently delivers his much-wanted presents to the ‘sleeping’ girls and boys. And with a thud, the sleigh descends back into the midnight sky, and if you concentrate really hard, you can open your senses to the max, and in the distance, you will hear the jingling ‘siren’ of tuneful bells warning us that the happiness of Christmas morning will be upon us within a few hours.