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.
As a Councillor, I often get criticised for “stuff”. In actual fact, we all do get a lot of stick for things we say or we do. It is so easy these days to post a comment online and have a go at someone. We often think that we are “better connected”, however I wonder whether we actually are. Nothing, even the best phone, will ever replace a real interpersonal interaction. Maybe the Christmas period can give us a good opportunity to praise a friend, our child or a member of the family? Maybe, the Festive Season is an excellent period to repair and enhance our relationships? Maybe, as we are approaching the New Year, could we try to be less judgmental and more understanding towards the others?
It might sound trivial and cliché, however I know that this Christmas, I want to renew my commitment to “utilising” every opportunity to make a difference. I genuinely believe that every selfless act of even smallest generosity can help us to build better tomorrow and inspire others to become “beacons of hope”. It is what the world needs today, isn’t it? The Christmas message is teaching us to be less materialistic, self-centred and cherish the things which truly matter; our relationships. Happy Christmas!
* Michal Siewniak is a Lib Dem activist and councillor for Handside ward, Welwyn Hatfield.
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6 Comments
The true meaning of Christmas is that God chose a poor, young, Jewish, girl to become the mother of Jesus and that Jesus was then born to an unmarried mother while she was a homeless refugee who had to give birth in a barn. People can judge for themselves whether Jesus was indeed the Christ promised in the Old Testament, but we can all celebrate the inclusive messages the Christmas story brings
No interest in Xmas, lots of people pretending to be nice to each other and then reverting to the usual nonsensical back-stabbing and petty-minded-ness, I am happily using up the free time to renovate my house and if a neighbour were to hammer on my door demanding to know how I was doing I would not be amused – unless they came armed with a plate of recently cooked mince pies. I also ignore New Year…
The true meaning of Christmas is the reaffirming the practical care and well-being endemic and moral story of spiritual renewal found in the simple christian message in Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens that also contains having the strength of liberal values on each day of each year.Dickens believed that Christmas humanity should be life sustaining regardless of material goods or wealth and a sustainable life code of wishing your neighbour Christmas love and well-being every day. A traditional Christmas celebration to all who share the spiritual understanding and practice of promoting Peace and harmony health and well-being to all peacemakers in New Year!
In practical terms we are celebrating the end of the descent into winter darkness and the days starting to become lighter. This is a metaphor for Christian belief as well. The question is can things actually get better in the coming year in reality ?
A very thoughtful article – thanks @Michal. I’m not sure there is any definitive true meaning of Christmas – there are so many different ways to interpret it – not least, the differences between the Christian spiritual perspective with all the religious connotations and the humanist perspective that is more likely to see Christmas as a cultural/historical tradition. But treating it as a time to reflect on the past year and on what things we can do to spread some love and make the lives of those close to us, as well as the World as a whole, better, seems to me a pretty good way to go about enjoying the season.
@Christopher Haigh, just above.
One of our shared problems is that in terms of the annual cycle, if now we celebrate the winter solstice and things now getting better again, how are we to steer ourselves around the summer turning point without a corresponding gloom. No doubt there’s one answer in the riddle of Stonehenge, perhaps.
Another approach may be to recognise that so many aspects of life seem to be in unceasing flux, yet at any instant we can each of us exercise a personal nudge or shove in what we believe to be the best direction, from donations to Charities — and to the hapless hedgehogs.
And perhaps, in the context of LDV, by trying to navigate and steer the best course or balance between the richest and the poorest in our homeland.