MER Y CHR STM S

As the wind blustered its blustery best to whip up the snow and encourage me on my way, I happened to look up above the shop windows to notice the signs.

The dark of the night provided a cold, dark and icy backdrop to the neon fireworks display that was trying to call out to me to delay my journey homeward and continue to spend my hard earned on trinkets and gifts to put a momentary smile on someone’s face.

My hands were already numb. I didn’t think I was going to be this long. My coat had lost a lot of its warmth a couple of coffee stops ago, but the Christmas spirit of consumption drove me on... until this moment.

I could hear a mother in discussion with a child. Something about, if they hadn’t got whatever gift had been requested then this, whatever this was, would have to do, “or he could lump it, or change it on Boxing Day..”. It was then that I noted how few smiling faces there were, as the throng was milling around trying their best to make a Christmas.

There it was, out of the mouth of a child, “It doesn’t feel like Christmas does it mum?”, said a child.

“Well not to worry, it will when we get Michael’s present and we can get indoors“, came mum’s reply.

I made a mental note to mention Michael in my prayers to thank him for Christmas, subject to his mother, or whoever the woman was to him, finding that illusive present.

It didn’t feel like Christmas to me either, funnily enough, and the huge sign that hung brightly above the shopping center of commercial worship said it all. It read “MER Y CHR STM S & WELCOME.. “. The bulbs had blown in several of the letters and nobody had thought or deigned to replace them. Maybe it didn’t matter. People were spending money and so long as Michael got his gift Christmas will be saved.

I crossed the road at the traffic lights to be confronted by a man, who asked if I had any change. I thought for a moment as I only had a small amount of loose change and didn’t want to offend. His clothes and demeanor, not to mention the smell that walked before him spoke a tale of a recent life lived rough. I reached into my other pocked and separated a five pound note. Not a huge sum by any means, but to me it was a lot. I handed it to him. He smiled in mild disbelief and thanked me and mumbled the world “merry”, before the unintelligible phrase “Christmas”, fell from his lips. It seems the sign above the shopping center was appropriate and its message already known, Christmas was indeed going to be unintelligible.

Mer y Chr stm s one and all and may the true spirit of Christmas find you and yours with all of your bulbs burning bright...

Love All