MY WEEK BY FRANCIS GAY
Time again to look forward, As we greet another year, A chance to pursue life’s pathways, Get ourselves into gear. Aims and dreams to keep in sight, And if you falter along the way, Don’t lose heart, keep on trying, In time it could well pay.
Do you use the same Christmas tree decorations every year? Or buy new ones? Tom tells me his wife Liz-anne does both.
“My bit’s done when the tree is up,” he said, “but I do like to sit and listen as Liz-anne reminds me of the stories behind every decoration she hangs. Some of them belonged to her mum and dad, some were made by her and her sister when they were small. There are little festive pictures of family member, souvenirs of various trips, baubles the children and grandchildren made.
“And it’s all topped off by a golden angel her granddad gave her grandmother.
“‘It’s not really a Christmas tree,’ she told me once. ‘It’s more like a memory tree.’” Isn’t that a lovely idea?
Of course, a memory tree takes a while to “grow”. But the best time to start is always now, while the memory is fresh.
Jim and I were comparing notes on the school Christmas shows we’d seen.
“This morning’s performance was wonderful,” he said. “The kids were adorable. “They were all dressed up and they gave it their all. The audience were singing and clapping along with them at the end. Then, as we were leaving, the same cute little ‘elves’, ‘snowmen’ and ‘reindeers’ were handing out leaflets. It said: ‘Please use our foodbank. Take what you need’ and ‘Do you need a warm coat? Take one from our rail’. It fairly killed the jingle-bell-buzz!” He shook his head. Then he straightened up and added, “But it filled my heart with something else. Something more like the true Christmas spirit.”
Feed the hungry. Clothe the poor. God bless us every one!
“It was our first home as a married couple,” Emily told me, “but there didn’t seem to be much community spirit in the street.
“My parents were elsewhere that Christmas. Our siblings lived quite a distance away. But, Michael went dog-walking every day...”
“So, I met the widower who walked the dalmatians,” Michael took up the story. “He introduced me to the collie-owner who was losing her sight. I helped another neighbour with her bins. She had two little kids and didn’t know anyone in the area. I met the teacher who was too busy to socialise. And the old fellow whose family never visited...” Emily and Michael invited everyone they could find who would have been spending Christmas alone to Christmas dinner. And, you know what? A community was already there. It just needed someone to join them together!
Have you been to see a panto yet this year? Perhaps you were at the same one as Emily.
She and her family went to a theatre she used to work in. As the place was filling up, she noticed an upset in the stalls. A mother was there with three young children.
Two of them were being angels, but the noise and the dark had been too much for the third, who was running around screeching. The mother was at a loss and there were several disapproving looks. Emily glanced up and saw a possible solution. She approached an ex-colleague with a suggestion. It was swiftly taken up, and the family saw the show from a theatre-box of their own, where the boy was reassured and no one was disturbed.
The magic of theatre and human kindness. It’s a great combination. Ohhh, yes, it is!