Report to the People
Christmas Message
For many of us, Christmas is a time for family.
It is a chance to spend time (not to mention money) with those with whom we seem too busy to catch up the other fifty one weeks of the year.
And even if the reason you haven’t seen them since last Christmas comes flooding back the instant they set foot in your house, brandishing a half empty bottle of sherry and a Perry Como LP, we still appreciate the importance of cementing family ties.
But as you sit down to devour three and a half metric tonnes of turkey and compare, depending whether you’re male or female, new ties or ironing board covers, spare a thought for those who are denied even this most mixed of blessings. The bar and restaurant staff who forgo their Christmas dinner to serve those of us too lazy to make one for ourselves. The workers in petrol stations, helping everyone else get to and from their family get-togethers. The chemists who are on hand for emergencies. And the countless other the shop workers, who as we speak are run off their feet and, come Christmas day, will be exhausted.
Police officers, fire fighters and ambulance crews still have to brave the same dangers as they do the other 364 days of the year. And servicemen and women throughout the world can’t leave their work early on Christmas Eve to get some last minute shopping before coming home to finish off the decorations. This year especially our thoughts should be with them.
Moaning about our nearest and dearest becomes something of a national sport at Christmas. But no matter how much we complain about them after they’ve left, we would do well to remember that, for some, a family Christmas – warts and all – would be the best present they could receive.
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