Love is the Reason for the Season

🎄*🎄*🎄*🎄* Love is the reason for the season. – Charitable things you might do this Christmas 🎄*🎄*🎄*🎄*

This festive season, when pushing through crowded shops, sitting in traffic jams and worrying about affording expensive gifts, pause for a while, still your thoughts then ask yourself whether you’re letting the commercialism of Christmas corrupt your Christmas spirit. Many faiths believe that we belong to one ‘human family’. The festive season isn’t about shopping until you’re in debt up to your eyeballs. The true spirit of Christmas is to spend time with ‘family’ and that includes sharing this joyous time with the world. We can’t include everyone in our celebrations but you might add an extra gift to your list for a lonely neighbour or drop some food off for a housebound friend. Support local charities … do some shopping in a charity shop or volunteer your help for a fund raising event. Give someone a hug, send flowers to a friend who needs cheering up, Include random acts of kindness in your Christmas to-do list. If you’re struggling financially yourself, you might offer to babysit or petsit for a friend, cook some cakes for a neighbour, donate unused items to a charity, give your time to a non-profit organisation, make homemade gifts for loved ones. Before getting sucked into the commercial chaos of the season, think about celebrating a more spiritual Christmas this year … make your own Christmas Spirit.

“Christmas is not a date. It is a state of mind.” – Mary Ellen Chase