Well now it’s December I can fully immerse myself into the Christmas Spirit and stop shouting at Andy while he is subconsciously whistling Christmas songs ‘STOP IT, IT’S STILL NOVEMBER!’. I have told anyone that will listen about my outrage that on November 26th in Basildon’s Shopping Centre, the queue for Santa’s Grotto was ridiculous. I don’t want to get in the mood too early or I will end up utterly fed up by the time we get there!

So I turned over my calendar on my desk to find a picture of Woody from Toy Story with a little bit of holly and a nice American caption ‘Happy Holidays’.* My advent calendar (I’m very grateful to Andy for saving me from grumpyness and nipping to Sainsbury’s yesterday to get me one) is ‘Merry Christmas! From Peppa and George (Pig)’ – coincidentally the same advent calendar as my 4 and 3 year old nieces. I’m (we’re) surrounded by all this snow and sparkle covered festivity, with very little reference to the true meaning of Christmas. My housemate Karen’s parents bought us a little advent calendar card which we opened the first door of yesterday and there was a picture of a lady dressed in blue…with ‘Mary’ written next to it. It’s a sad time where on the picture of the nativity you have to write the names of the characters in case people don’t know.

More and more Jesus is squeezed out of Christmas – so what are we doing about it this year? How are we making sure we are focusing on the right things this Christmas? How are we not getting so sucked in to the glitz and extras that we forget to communicate the real meaning of Christmas with those around us?

We’ve managed to get tickets to be in the audience of Michael McIntyre’s Christmas Comedy Roadshow, filmed on 13th December, on air on Christmas Day. (I’m VERY excited!) So you may possibly see me on TV on Christmas Day. That got me thinking, if I could wear a T-Shirt with anything written on it that potentially millions of people could see on Christmas Day, what would I want it to say? What one thing would I want to say about what I believe Christmas is really about?

I don’t have answers yet, but take a second to think about it! Viz-A-Viz Ministries have produced the More To Christmas DVD in a card – a great conversation starter to send to friends/families/neighbours – featuring real stories of real people and how God has changed their lives. For more information visit www.vizaviz.org

 
*I was pleased the other day whilst listening the Vernon Kay on BBC Radio 1 that as he read out a text containing the word ‘Xmas’ he said ‘No, not Xmas, Christmas, please keep the Christ in Christmas.

I’d love to hear your comments of how you are ‘keeping the Christ in Christmas’ this year.

 

 

Tags: Christmas, Jesus, More To Christmas, More To Life

Tuesday

Had a nice lie in and spent the morning getting ready to go out! We had our office Christmas Dinner at The Quays, round the back of Basildon Festival Leisure Park. We were provided with ridiculous hats and crackers with the most bizarre ‘presents’ inside. I got a small plastic silver trumpet, that was the most normal! Had tomato soup for starters, turkey for main and profiteroles with fudge sauce instead of chocolate! Interesting, but nice! Rachel, Ollie and I then went to the cinema to see ‘Four Christmases’. Hmmm. Wasn’t as good as i’d hoped, could have been funnier, but wasn’t too bad. Think I’ll stick with Love Actually and The Holiday as essential Christmas Chick Flicks! Spent the evening doing some internet shopping and of course watching Holby City (aaaah dilemma. She finally kissed him, but then she’s been flirting with his son and she doesn’t know he has a son….what to do!).

Wednesday

Slept in. Slowly got ready whilst a coffee morning went on downstairs. I came down for the last 15mins or so and met some lovely people with some fascinating stories! Helped clear up and had a couple of chocolate biscuits mmmm. Then Rachel picked me up at 12.45 and we went to the office for a meeting on how to make MTC shorter. We managed to remove 8mins from the schedule…and add 5. Then we travelled all the way to Basildon (took like 10mins!) and had to wait for an OAP fitness class to finish before we could set up. We had 30mins less than normal to set up, but of course we managed! Were able to suspend the mirrorball at the front of the stage and have two lights on it. Looked fab! Dinner was lasagne and apple pie. Was a little nervous that all the lines has fallen out of my head during the two days off, but not to worry! My biggest battle was getting the voice in my head to shut up! Few technical hitches but hopefully no-one noticed! Rachel nearly slipped over on stage and i got wedged between two flats, and almost walked into a flat but no major disaster! We were all packed and loaded by 11pm, and was home by 11.20pm, result!

Thursday

Today has been looming in the back of my mind for ages. My designated essay writing day. I actually quite enjoy writing them, it’s just the thought of it that fills me with gloom. So i stayed in bed for as long as possible. Got up at 10.45am, took my time getting ready – baggy jeans, hoodie, no makeup, no hair straightening day (and as it turned out quite accidentally, no deodorant day :s), had breakfast, tidied my room, emptied my bin, put out some washing, decided to go into town to get some bits and see if the library had any helpful books, came back from town and it was lunchtime, had lunch – spicy butternut squash and sweet potato soup with fresh crusty bread….mmmmm so good! Stacked the dishwasher, then it was 2pm and I really couldn’t put it off any longer. Switched on the study computer…checked my email, went on Facebook, rang Mum, ordered Delirious tickets…then finally did some research! Printed out 24 pages of stuff and photocopied pages from books, then sat with my 3 different coloured highlighters (Green, Orange and Yellow if you’re interested, I can’t find my pink one) and went through everything. Moved into the conservatory to start writing…and my computer connected to an unprotected wireless network!!! So…facebook, emails etc….then started writing! Managed an hour and a half then it was time for neighbours! (not much of interest to share) Then spoke to Lewis who is poorly Poor thing. Then dinner – dessert was Tiramisu which I’ve never had before and it’s quite nice! Then back to work. Have now got all my content, just needs rearranging and sense making! Have eaten lots of dark chocolate today. I don’t like dark chocolate. But i’m discovering if you eat a lot of something you start to like it. Like now i don’t need sugar in my coffee.

Tags: Apple Pie, Basildon, Christmas Dinner, Conservatory, Dark Chocolate, Essay, Facebook, Four Chrstmases, Highlighters, Holby City, Lasagne, Mirrorball, More To Christmas, Neighbours, Profiteroles, The Quays, Unprotected Wireless