Now I love the Christmas season,
with all its fun and friends
But if I’m truly honest
By the Dec 25th, I’ve gone a little round the bend.

For the message of this time of year
Can ‘oft be missed or cut quite short,
As a Christian celebrating
I start to doubt the ‘x-mas’ we bought.

So I’d like to offer up to you,
An alternate Christmas guide
about a different season,
that behind the boxes still resides.

P is for the present
wrapped up with a bow
Standing proud under the tree
With nowhere else to go.

We tear into the packaging
Whilst the paper takes to flight
We love those gifts right here, right now
But they are forgotten by the night.

E is for ‘expectation’ at the day ahead.
A day of fun and Christmas cheer
We build it up so much,
Whilst secretly harbouring false expectations and a little nag of fear.

Because we build up our expectations
Of the perfect Christmas time
When sadly often those expectations
Have evaporated by Queen’s speech time.

A is for ‘apathy’,
We’ve all been there I’m sure
A little shrug of ‘humbug’
due to our experiences before

“I don’t’ do Christmas!”
You hear them say,
They can’t wait till the end
This crazy pointless season, it just drives them round the bend!

C is for commitments,
Here, there and everywhere.
We rush from place, to place, to place,
It’s no wonder I’m losing hair.

We rush round to see loved ones,
but it can be such a stress,
I end longing for the new school term
Where I can finally get some rest.

E is for exhaustion
It’s all left me completely spent!
I’ve spent my share of energy
No more Christmas cheer to vent.

Now, you may have noticed as I’ve been talking,
that a word has been revealed,
An alternative Christmas attitude
That I hope inside your heart, will be sealed.

For this PEACE there displayed
Before you in this simple nativity set
Is the reason why we celebrate
But are oft’ prone to forget.

Because beneath our Christmas stresses, or traditions,
This really is the reason
For why we gather here today
To celebrate the season.

For in the bible it talks of peace,
Not in the absence of pain or trouble,
But in the gift of a tiny Christ child,
sent to clear away the rubble.

Peace is not just a gift we take,
And then discard through lack of use,
It’s a work in progress,
When it breaks down, we can reuse.

So as you go from here today,
into your Christmas break,
Don’t just think about yourself,
and all that you can take.

Stretch out your hands to another,
Open your eyes up to the world,
Because the Peace this Christmas offers,
Lies in your hands unfurled.