EDITOR’S LETTER
from the desk of Michele Crawshaw
If I surveyed our team here at The Australian Women’s Weekly, I can bet that their favourite time of the year – hands down – would be Christmas. It’s that wonderful feeling of being able to reflect on the year that’s been, to look forward to the warmth and the freedom of the summer holidays and, of course, to get caught up in all the glittering, magical excitement of the festive season.
But more than that it’s a chance to feel grateful. Not just for what’s under the Christmas tree, but for those around you – the people who have supported you, lifted you up when you needed it and been there to share a laugh. And for some it’s a chance to say thank you for the most wonderful gift of all: life. We talked to three women for this issue about what it means to be grateful, and their beautiful stories of love, kindness and hope are incredibly inspiring.
Christmas is also about memories and traditions and if you’re looking to create some new ones this year, check out our 12 Days of Kindness feature. It’s all about feeling good while doing good. There are some wonderful ideas for spreading Christmas cheer.
Until the big day, I’ll be trying to rein in my children’s gift list for Santa (hopefully the arrival of a new kitten in the house a few months ago means we can finally dispense with the request for a puppy this year!) and pulling out our box of Christmas decorations – my favourite ritual of all. The kids’ homemade decorations have begun to outnumber the brought ones, and it now takes me forever to dress the tree as I pull each and every playdough angel, glitter ball and macaroni decoration from the box and remember when it was made by little hands. Merry Christmas everyone.