I miss Christmas.
I grew up in a family that celebrated events with much enthusiasm. Easter was always special, birthdays an occasion, the 5th November we always had a great big bonfire with a Guy Fawkes and Christmas was traditional with an early start.
My father always took us to the morning service, then home for a nice simple breakfast, after which we waited for the grandparents and then opened the welcoming gifts under the tree. The whole family would sit down together to a lunchtime feast that my mother had been preparing, with much love, since the day before. Roast turkey with the appropriate veg and my father’s own recipe of brandy butter for the lit Christmas pudding stuffed with coins. The evening was open house for all friends and family to pop in for a drink, fellowship and to consume any leftovers from lunch.
Then life changed. Parents died, brothers moved away, life took its journey and Christmas was never quite the same again.
My appreciation of Christmas is based on the values that I saw in my parents, the caring, welcoming attitude towards friends, family and the needy. It was the laughter and the warmth that overflowed on Christmas night amongst the gathering that will always remain with me.
Through my life I have tried to preserve that spirit of Christmas and endeavoured to instil some of it in my children, as best I could, as well as to celebrate with whatever family was around who wished to be a part of it. I love making the effort, going that extra mile to do something extra special after all it is not just another day, its Christmas! A time of giving and receiving, of sitting together and sharing a meal, breaking bread and feeling the contentment and love and being a part of family.
Last week I spoke to Aidan’s granny and she spoke of her loneliness which I fully understand. The festive season seems to have an adverse effect on some of us. Instead of being caught up in the gaiety and sense of family and friendship many feel incredibly isolated and alone. I have spent parts of Christmas alone pondering the ache in my heart. Broken families mean children alternate Christmas, migrant families are separated by continents, some folk are ill, some alone, many are old and in a place they do not want to be in, some estranged, a family member might have died, a sudden retrenchment or perhaps some just don’t care or have the same awareness of kinship.
Spare a thought this Christmas to those around you. I was reading the paper the other day and was struck by the complete lack of care or moral value enveloping us. When did society become so unconcerned? Not to be political but I certainly would not have a woman in my life who treated the person she worked for with such disdain and contempt as Julia yet, she rules this country and we all listen to and read about her. Instead of being accepting the voters should have kicked her butt and ousted her for her incredibly bad, unacceptable conduct. How does a country condone such behaviour? Do we do the same in our own homes, in our workplace, behave so callously to colleagues or strangers, with our friends, is this how we want our children to behave? I suppose my question is where is our care factor…?
One of my hopes is that society starts to show more compassion to those around them and hopefully start at home, then the aged, the sick, the needy and into the broader community. Spare someone that all-encompassing loneliness at Christmas. Give a stranger a gift, visit the wishing tree in Kmart, purchase something from organisations that use the money to help sick children or cancer sufferers or orphans etc. Do a good deed.
For those who haven’t seen the movie there is a belief in ‘pay it forward’ or ‘give and you shall receive’. It’s all about being generous and giving without the expectation of ever receiving anything in return. Just knowing you touched someone else’s life in a positive manner and brought a smile or a lift to a heart is worth it, and that’s the gift. The world is so full of suffering its heart-breaking.
In all of our lives there will be someone who will not enjoy or have a sense of Christmas, spare a thought, reach out and share the love and kindness that resides in all of us. Bring joy and peace to our earth.
May you have a blessed Christmas and a joyous new year.
Travel safe.
X Alison
http://www.thepyjamafoundation.com
http://www.workingwonders.com.au/
http://salvos.org.au/christmas/how-to-help/food-and-gifts.php
Kmart Wishing tree Appeal
http://www.lionsclubs.org.au/cakes/info.php
http://www.beyondblue.org.au/index.aspx?
http://au.movember.com/get-involved/
http://www.kidswithcancer.org.au/
Aidan Cale Needham
25/06/86 – 20/10/10