Merry Christmas

I love Christmas. I like buying people presents. There is something exciting about trying to match a person to a gift and vice versa. Somehow I can't imagine being one of those people who ends up panic buying on Christmas Eve and getting everyone something grotty from the local garage. Gifts don't have to be expensive, they just have to mean something. At the moment I'm listening to Christmas music on the radio, I've been writing cards and I've wrapped presents. I love Christmas songs, but I have friends who, at a party the other day, ran out of the room rather than hear any Christmas music. That's it though, I don't have a problem with Christmas - from Cliff's Mistletoe and Wine to O Holy Night, from Last Christmas to O Come All Ye Faithful, it is fantastic, especially when you consider that the whole thing started with one baby in a manger in Bethlehem - and that gets forgotten too often in the rush for presents, partying, if X Factor will be no. 1, if the turkey is big enough and the 101 other things that people worry about at Christmas.

So enjoy the run up to Christmas, and if you can, go to a church and just stop for a moment. Amid the rush and bustle, have a look at the nativity scene, and just remember that all of this is because of that small child.

If you can, go to a service. If you can't, just remember that small child. He certainly remembers you

Merry Christmas.