Christmas time isn’t easy for those of us apart.
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Hanging decorations, singing songs, rejoicing at birth, getting time off work, being around your loved ones, iridescent glow on a small child’s face, the wonder, the excitement of love songs and merriment, tinsel, falling down all over the place, finding it under the couch, under your clothes.
Memories of Uncle Frank falling asleep under the tree, his cheeks red, and nose flushed – an atmosphere of pure delight.
But so many this year will have to go without. Seasons of change, of rebirth and despair, summer or winter, depending where you stand.
Men and women serving their country overseas only a video and email across the world, seems so small but somehow still so large, Christmas time isn’t easy for those of us apart.
The time of parties and too much indulgence yet so many will work all day, fall asleep on the couch watching another endless batch of reruns – The Griswolds, Miracle on 34th Street and It’s a Wonderful Life.
Christmas time isn’t easy for those of us apart, innocent misunderstandings become full scale wars of the roses.
It’s not about toys, gadgets or gizmos, it’s not about how drunk you get at a club on Christmas Eve or that you’re missing three days’ work in the middle of the week.
It’s a time for love, a time for hope a time for greater understanding.
It’s a time for forgiveness, a time to think of those less fortunate than ourselves, a time to let our flawed nature and our selfish hearts for just one day remember that we are all connected. For any reason Christmas time isn’t quite so easy for those of us apart.
James WF Roberts,
North Bendigo