How Useful Christmas Is

It is an interesting time of year and I have noticed people being grumpy and fatigued. I started thinking about why we all bother

31.6% of the world identify as Christian and while I realise that nowhere near 100% of the world celebrates Christmas, there is a huge percentage of us who are ‘doing Christmas’ without buying into the ‘reason for the season’!

I started to imagine a world without Christmas and quickly realised that Christmas is useful! Because of Christmas,

1. Companies celebrate their people:
   End-of-year parties, companies shouting meals and drinks and celebrations are held. People have a date to shut down the year and close off their calendars. While businesses shouldn’t need a reason to dish out gratitude, in a hectic working world, having an annual date helps.

2. People make an effort to reach out and catch up:
   Cards get sent, people write end-of-year summaries and catch up with clients and friends.The promise of ‘we must catch up’ gets a deadline that pushes people into action.

3. Families gather to share food and traditions:
   Making an effort to gather together is a big job, coordinating diaries, organising travel, and deciding on food. Whether your tradition is a special recipe, matching pyjamas, swapping gifts, or playing games, traditions add excellent family glue.

4. Christmas is an exercise in thoughtful consideration:
   Whether you are buying gifts, planning menus, or planning travel, there is a lot of consideration involved. Christmas allows us to update our preferences, connect with people's favourite things and latest interests. Buying people gifts is an excellent exercise in how well you know them!

5. The world becomes magical:
   Trees are covered in tiny lights, windows are decorated with snow. Glitter is an everyday thing and everything has a bow! Children are excited about tricky wee elves, their imagination gets stretched and their minds blown!

Celebration, gratitude, ‘efforting’, gathering, considering and magic are generous and wonderful energies.

It is not too late to gather, consider, celebrate, or make some magic!

Merry Christmas.