To get in the Christmas spirit I just watched Paul Kelly on YouTube sing 'Christmas must be tonight' (worth watching).
Paul often sings of the simple things of Christmas - of family, and of loss, including when he sings 'How to make Gravy'.
Christmas, and the family memories of Christmas obviously mean a lot to him.
He grew up in a religious family but like many Australians organised religion doesn’t mean as much to him as it used to.
Yet when he sings the words, “How a little baby boy can bring the people so much joy” he means it.
The birth of a little baby boy 2000 years ago in a barn on the side of hill in the Middle East still means something to him.
It means for him the memories of family, of celebration, of caring, of believing in something bigger than ourselves.
We should also remember that this deep well of memories and tradition is often painful for some who remember loss or pain of a family breakup.
We should also take care to make great Christmas memories, to put differences aside, especially for the future Christmas memories of our children.
As we celebrate the ‘birth of a baby boy’ born in the humblest of circumstances to create a little family, we celebrate our own families.
After the time I’ve spent working this year I’ll try to make this Christmas extra special for my three kids.
When you greet someone and say “Merry Christmas” you can really mean it because you are saying you care about families, about memories, about tradition, and even about the birth of a baby boy who brought the people so much joy.
