Tag Archives: christmas

Are you ready for Christmas? Are you staying at home or are you planning to visit your loved ones? These are some of the questions that we will be hearing a lot these days. There is a rush to buy, cook and make sure that the “Christmas experience” is close to being “perfect”. Whether we like it or not, it is almost impossible to avoid all the madness around the Festive Season. I often wonder whether we have lost our ability to recognise that Christmas can give us all a lot more than only a new toy, phone or a fancy gift.

For me personally, Christmas has two important meanings. First of all, it gives me an opportunity to reflect on the elapsing year. It has been challenging, hasn’t it? Here at home, we’ve had constant “political drama”, ongoing financial challenges and high inflation. The situation abroad isn’t unfortunately better. There is war, various global conflicts, climate or a refugee crisis. From the human perspective, it is not easy to remain positive and optimistic, isn’t it? We have all experienced a “poverty of trust” and it often feels like that the hope and belief for a better tomorrow is fading away.

Having said, maybe there are ways in which we can make the Festive Season truly “magical”. Is this a good moment to look around and notice people who are still less fortunate than us? Is this a perfect time to pick up the phone and ring a friend, member of the family, someone we have not spoken with for a while? Is it also a good moment to simply knock on our neighbour’s door to say hi, check if they are ok? What if we tried this Christmas to give our time and ourselves to people around us? What if we tried to switch off, simply be in the present moment and “park” for a day or two our phone and stop scrolling through our social media platforms? Watching a family movie, going for a walk might have a positive impact on building healthy relationships with people around us. Moreover, it will also help us to improve our wellbeing, so often neglected by our busy lifestyles.

There is only one word that springs to my mind this Christmas; it is HOPE.

The last 12 months have been so difficult for us individually, collectively and for the whole global family. The end of the pandemic, re-adjustment to life after Covid, invasion of Ukraine, problems “at home”; endless political saga, high inflation and a huge cost of living crisis. The list of real issues and reasons to lose HOPE is endless.

Christmas is usually a good opportunity to stop, rest and recharge our batteries. Religious or not, we all look forward to Christmas to reconnect with our friends, relatives and family members. These social moments of interaction are so important for our wellbeing and sense of belonging to our community, society or respective traditions.

I personally HOPE that this Christmas, we will all try to remain faithful in the goodness of humanity. I HOPE that we will be able to be grateful for who we are, recognise that we are all unique and that we are a GIFT for one another.