Shush... It’s almost Christmas. Maybe it’s an age thing but as the last autumn leaves desperately cling to the trees another year seems to rush with undue haste to its finishing line.
Age really hits you hard - not so much when you look in the mirror but when you have to scroll further and further back to find your birth year in an online application form.
I still look forward to Christmas with childhood joy. I am lucky to be still surrounded throughout this festive season with those I love, both family and friends.
It makes me conscious of all the families who for the first time will have an empty chair (or chairs) around the Christmas table this year.
Hopefully, the reminisces of Christmases past will bring back the laugh out loud moments and cooking disasters which make family get togethers special.
We never tire of telling about my late aunt at Christmas, replete with her new pressure cooker who found herself standing in the garden trying to remove the lid with a hammer and chisel. Or when I once added a tad too much brandy to the Christmas pudding that it literally ignited and the flames hit the ceiling, setting off the fire alarm...
Christmas is a unique time with its sense of childlike wonderment; the parental bribery of getting good behaviour with the threat of a Santa who is keeping a tally of naughtiness; how older children share and keep the spirit of Santa alive for younger siblings. It’s a time to visit elderly relatives or to reach out to friends.
Christmas seems to bring out the best in most people, though the courtesies of the season are swept away with the onslaught of the January sales.
Even politics seems more optimistic with positive mood music.
Chris Heaton-Harris, who makes for the most unlikely Santa Claus, has been splashing the pre-Christmas cash in hope of encouraging a warm glow amongst the local frenemies.
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson is fostering that sense of Christmas expectation by “edging” towards a deal, whilst keeping his members pondering.
Though some joyless political gremlins lurk in wings. But let’s face facts: these hardy perennials are little more than hammed up pantomime characters ranging from King Rat and the Henchman to Silly Billy and the rear end of a dancing donkey.
Chris Heaton-Harris, who makes for the most unlikely Santa Claus, has been splashing the pre-Christmas cash in hope of encouraging a warm glow amongst the local frenemies
I have little time for Grinch-like figures. You know the types - the gurners who take umbrage at everyone and carry a lifelong log on both shoulders. The political commentariat isn’t immune to this breed.
Then there are the begrudgers - those who resent change and complain ad nauseam and magnify the most trivial of matters. They tend to proliferate on digital platforms.
And of course, let’s not forget the crusty old curmudgeonly sourpusses who live and breathe negativity, sucking the goodness out of every day and everyone.
As I write, some vivid images come to mind but I will let the political savvy readers of The Irish News conjure up their own favourite politicos for the Scrooge and Baron Hardup of the Year Awards.
This year, half the world is in turmoil and for those in the midst of humanitarian crises, it will not feel very much like a season of goodwill. The people of Ukraine, Gaza, Myanmar, north Africa, Sudan and Ethiopia are caught up in brutal and bloody conflicts - some the legacy of civil war, others aggravated by oppression or aggression. We shouldn’t be colour blind to one type of conflict over another.
Closer to home there are small meaningful Christmas spirit gestures like Foodstock in west Belfast, or the Bite ‘n Banter initiative in Newry or indeed the owners of Indian restaurant Guru, also in Newry, who are offering a free takeaway meal on Christmas Day to those in need.
If only the writer Hamilton Mabie was right, and Christmas was the season which “engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love”. How much better would we all be?
