Do we need to save our traditional family Christmas Day at all costs?
ONE of the main reasons cited for the new national lockdown is to protect Christmas. Isn’t that the wrong priority? We should all be prepared to moderate our expectations of this year’s festive season in order to safeguard health and the economy. As well as resigning ourselves to a not-so-merry Christmas, we ought to be considering 2021, when many more families will lose loved ones to non-Covid related illnesses that should have been treated. More will be struggling on meagre benefits rather than wages. All this because a misguided Government insisted on using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.
ALAN SHARPE, Melton Mowbray, Leics. SO, The festive shopping hysteria is to be compressed into just three weeks, followed by an abstemious Christmas and New Year with full observance of the rules of social distancing. Yes, that will definitely sort out the virus this time.
ROBERT CHATTERTON,
Caythorpe, Lincs.
‘BORIS has saved Christmas!’ Theologically, the slogan could be put the other way round. Christmas , Christians believe, has saved us. Rev
ANDREW MCLUSKEY,
Ashford, Middlesex.
WHY are people getting into a lather over Christmas? I always understood it to be a Christian festival celebrating the birth of Our Saviour, but with churches becoming virtual mausoleums, it’s become little more than a commercial exercise and an excuse for a jolly knees-up. I have a solution: just shift it to next year and join forces with one of the other religions that seem to be more devout than the rest of us.
CHARLES JONES, Chester.
WHY do so many people think missing one Christmas with their families will ruin their lives? In normal times, I see my family only two or three times a year and never at Christmas, due to work commitments. You won’t need therapy if this year it’s a quiet festive season. Get over it — things could be a lot worse.
PAUL MORLEY, Skipton, N. Yorks.
CORONAVIRUS won’t be having a Christmas ceasefire, so there can be no easing of safety precautions in the silly belief that people should be allowed to enjoy the festive season in the usual way. I am appalled that such moves will affect the NHS.
BARRIE FROST, Filey, N. Yorks.
WHY all the fuss about celebrating Christmas on December 25? There is nothing in the Scriptures to suggest this was the correct date. So let’s wait until spring to celebrate.
DR A. HOWARD, London Se3. THERE is much talk about Christmas being cancelled, but surely it is always a virtual two-week lockdown with most people staying at home with their immediate family and not going to work, school or university.
CLIVE WHICHELOW, London Sw19. IF SANTA Claus has any sense, he will stay at home this Christmas. In fact, as he is elderly and overweight, he would be best to self-isolate.
MIKE HORGAN, Heswall, Wirral.