WHEN does Christmas start for you? Is it when you see the first decorations going up in the shops (so probably around early September). Or is it the first Sunday in Advent or perhaps when you first hear the strains of Bing Crosby, Slade or Mariah Carey.
And when does Christmas end for you? Boxing day? Hogmanay? Twelfth Night? Whenever it is, once all the lights and decorations have been put away for another year, the world always seems a duller place – we’re still in the depths of winter and spring still feels a long way off.
Wouldn’t it be great if Christmas lasted all year through? It may sound naïve or even childish to wish for Christmas to continue indefinitely but, to an extent, it’s not a bad idea.
We’re not talking here about endless portions of turkey and a new Wallace and Gromit adventure every day, but the things that really make Christmas special to so many people, people of all faiths and none. Families and friends getting in touch and spending time with each other. The feeling of love which abounds at this time of year, when people take time to cut through all the tinsel and glitter and focus on what really matters in life- the peace and goodwill we all sing about.
Christ’s birth signified a change in the relationship between God and mankind, a change that wouldn’t just last until Twelfth Night, but forever.
In these worrying times, it is perhaps worth considering that every single man-made problem on this earth can be resolved at a stroke simply by people having the courage to follow the teaching of the man who was born in a stable and who died on a cross.
From the team at the Upper Annandale Parish Church, Moffat
