I have just read J R R Tolkien's Letters from Father Christmas, a delightful and imaginative set of letters which he, 'as Father Christmas', wrote to his children over a period of just over twenty years. The first letter was penned in 1920 when the eldest child was just 3, and continued through the childhoods of the three other children.
He recounts the adventures of Father Nicholas Christmas and his associates, often enhancing what he is saying with drawings of the events taking place at the North Pole.
It was a great reminder of what we might call the 'magic' of Christmas, and of the different customs and traditions that can emerge in families. We always do this ....
It is sometimes said, and with good reason, that we risk overwhelming Christmas with all sorts of secular and commercial matters that have little to do with its essence.
However, I always like to remember the immensity of what we are celebrating when we say Emmanuel - God-with-us. I don't think we can do too much to celebrate Christmas. The birth of a baby at Bethlehem has had such a massive impact on the life of this world. It deserves a big cellebration, a very big celebration. There is so much mystery in the fact that, as the carol puts it, 'Love came down at Christmas.'
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