True Christmas Spirit

An opportunity for the whole family to get together and talk around a roaring fire? Christmas carols forcing themselves upon your ears thought the hustle and bustle of grateful sighs and snapping of crackers and the traditional Christmassy films blasting from the 32” flat screen TV sat firmly in the corner of the room. The Christmas cracker jokes still bring smiles to your faces even if you have heard them before and however lame they are.

Oversized paper hats an obvious accessory that will stay on from lunchtime until the next morning whether you like it or not! Monopoly, Scrabble, Jenga and Connect 4 firm favourites piled up high just waiting to be played. And the Christmas jigsaw is a must-have alone time for Mother, 2 hours later, the 500 piece Thomas Kinkade picture is complete and an enormous sense of relief is brought to the whole family that Mother can be Mother again and resume her duties of hosting the day in her usual welcoming fashion. The only day of the year where siblings are at peace and parents can justify getting tipsy. A joyful day for all involved providing you with a fabulous feeling of family unity that will keep you going until next year, it is the penultimate recharge to your battery as a family unit.

Or is it an annual birthday party for a little boy who was born in a stable in Bethlehem many years ago? In opening that first window of the advent calendar, or watching the children doing their stage debut as donkeys, angels and shepherds draped in tinsel and old checked tea towels, you are succumbing to the religious element of the event.

The whole magical atmosphere of the nativity and it’s songs about a little donkey an enlightenment of what could have happened once upon a time. The strangeness of oranges filled with candles or what one would call ‘christingles’ just one of those symbols awakening all senses in creating a rendition of that ‘holy’ night in your mind. And with the aid of the toddlers on the platform in front of you, you start to believe it actually happened and that this is why we have a fixed-term celebration in our calendar every year.

And you start to believe that Mary is a tiny little girl who can sing and that Joseph is a little boy who forgets his words…and Jesus, the one who we are meant to idolise is a ‘baby born’ doll.

This is purely a portrait of what occurred, but yet you find it utterly believable. And so we give thanks to the son of God for being born and giving us the opportunity to enjoy ourselves in his name at Christmas every year.

In my little Welsh home in the country, these all merge together in a medley of christmassness. In homes across the lands and oceans, the ultimate purpose of this holy festival will change dramatically, but somewhere along the line, indulgence, magic, relations and religion will all sparkle out of that bottle of bubbly; pop out of those part poppers and frost themselves on the snow spray artistically applied to portray a snowman on the living room window, thus surrounding you in a heightened sense of love, joy and gratitude. That’s what Christmas is to me.