Countdown to Christmas

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Only a trinity of sleeps to go!

It’s crept up like it usually does but the countdown is now clearly on.

During the past week or so when my more organised friends began giving me gifts and cards, I realised that I needed to get my head out of its ‘big decision making’ space and promptly bring it in to, ‘it’s CHRISTMAS’ space!

And so since then, I’ve been playing catch up.

Because, as I’ve said before, I LOVE all things Christmas! 

I’ve been sporting my cheddar loaded reindeer clad Christmas jumper, I’ve baked mince pies with mixed results, bought most of my gifts and eaten out more times than my jeans are comfortable with.  

All in the name of Christmas catch ups with the people that I love and am grateful to share life with. 

It’s been feastastik.  

And there is still so much more to come!

I’ve also attended three Christmas parties including one silent disco, which was SO much fun!  The last party which allowed me to celebrate finishing work on Friday saw me as the last one on the dance floor at 1.00am when it closed!  Gosh I love dancing!  And I haven’t done enough this year so I need to rectify that in 2020.

But with all that aside, I equally recognise that Christmas isn’t all feasting and festive frolics.

It can of course also be an incredibly challenging, painful or lonely time. 

A time where we do not simply celebrate who and what we do have but where we also feel the pain of who and what we do not have.

As such Christmas, like the rest of life, can be a real mix of joy, sadness and all in between.  There is such expectation and pressure to be jolly and frivolous despite this not reflecting the experience of all.

When I think back to Christmas two years ago, I remember the devastation of watching my beautiful spiritual mother deteriorate day by day until her death in January.  It was heart breaking. 

Last year I was fortunate enough to be within the love of my new NZ family when the anniversary of this hit.

This year I will be amongst friends.

Christmas can be difficult for all manner of reasons.

I’ve been particularly delighted this year to see local restaurants responding to those who are alone by offering a free Christmas meal.   

Now that’s what I call putting your money where your mouth is.

And that is at the heart of Christ and Christmas; love in word and deed.

It is a time that serves to remind us all of what really matters in life.

Because when we strip back all the theology, the religion and the misinterpretations, the real message of Christ is one of pure love.  

His is a love that shows kindness and genuine care to others irrespective of any response.  And not just to those that we know and love but to anyone that we come in to contact with.  

Love is an attitude and a way of being.

It’s not all about the big gestures either.  

It may just be a smile or a text, a call or a helping hand.  

We know what love looks like, we just get so busy and distracted by life, so consumed by our own circumstances that we cease to notice the needs of those around us or even to recognise those reaching out to us.

But we all need love and we are all capable of giving it.  

Not sparingly but generously.  

Not in a select, I’ll give it to you but not to you way, but to all.

Because whether we are in pain this Christmas or bouncing off the walls with festiveness or even anywhere in between, we all need to be loved.

And Christmas reminds us that Christ was born and He still lives and He still loves and whether you are hurting or celebrating, He offers to be a stabilising, dependable source of unwavering love.

As far as I am concerned, that is a reminder worth having every year because it seems to get forgotten very easily between January and November.

Let us all drink deeply this Christmas of all that Christ is that we may attempt to share this love with each other for the whole year round.