It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

I used to be a Christmas purist. After all, it was only one day in the year, or a couple of weeks holiday at most. I decried the commercialism starting in September, tutted as lights and trees went up weeks before, and shook my head as the Christmas songs started up in November.

Don’t get me wrong – I love Christmas and make a huge fuss of the celebrations. I spend far too much on presents, food, and drinks, and am the first one up on Christmas morning because I am too excited to sleep. I just didn’t see the point of starting so early, and my decorations are in the box and up in the attic by the end of Jan 1st.

So why did I rub my hands when I got the advent candle out, and made sure the Christmas CD’s were stacked ready to play? What possessed me to buy a snowman shower curtain and hang it up in the bathroom, giggling at the thought of my husband’s face when he went in after work? Why am I desperate to mull some wine and watch cheesy Christmas movies knowing that my presents are already wrapped and waiting to be distributed?

The last couple of years have been pretty dreadful in many ways, and as Christmas approaches, and a new strain of the virus starts to infect the population, it’s inevitable that we look back to last year. So many people suffered a huge disappointment when Boris became the Grinch and stole our family celebrations. A friend of mine told me how she had cried for ages after her daughters and grandchild had come down to visit only to stand at the gate in the freezing cold. Seeing them, but not being able to hug them was even worse for her than not seeing them at all.

Right now, we need hope and light in our lives. This pandemic has worn us down, filled us with fear and dashed our plans and left us with cancelled holidays, weddings and parties. We haven’t even been able to grieve properly, denied the comfort and support of those closest to us when we needed them the most.

And what is Christmas, if not light and hope for the weary? A celebration of God joining us in our struggles as a human being, a promise of healing, comfort, and rest, and the assurance that death is not the end. More than ever, we need the Bethlehem star to shine in our homes and lives, a bright beacon in the darkness filling our hearts with hope.

So, as I watched my neighbours across the road stringing huge stars in their window at the end of November, I nodded in understanding. When I parked outside on the evening of 1st December to be greeted by flashing Christmas lights next door, I smiled. Who cares that there are still twenty days left before we hit the big day? Let’s celebrate Jesus’ birth in style and enjoy the most wonderful time of the year for many weeks. You never know, I may even keep my decorations up until twelfth night!