Christmas is creeping ever closer and I am not the least bit organised.
There are no cards bought, never mind written. There are no presents carefully and thoughtfully purchased. There is no meal plan for when the hordes descend although I have at least ordered a turkey.
It has not really felt like Christmas is just around the corner. Not until the temperature dropped this past week and the snow fell. The weather combined with the community carols have suddenly made me panic.
Christmas is going to be here before I know it.
On top of that, the flat the offspring share needs a new boiler. Do you think we could gift-wrap a plumber for them for Christmas?
The time, the effort, the expense of this time of year, are all daunting thoughts right now. There is a part of me that would quite like to hibernate until it is all over.
But the greater part of me loves all the celebrations. I love the excuse to get everyone together round a table. The food is secondary to the craic and just having the family there: which I suppose means that it doesn't really matter what might or might not be on the menu.
And I love too that, despite all the attempts to make it a "winter holiday" for most people, it is still Christmas - the time when God's coming among us as one of us is celebrated by those of strong faith and those who are not quite so sure.
It is the one point in the year when people like me have the chance to encourage those on the edges of belief to explore this stable-based story to see if they might discover for themselves who this baby really is.
Take away the tinsel and the bright lights. Take away the groaning tables and the over-filled stockings and there is a tiny, vulnerable, unassuming child who claims nothing except to have come in love and for love's sake.
Which is precisely why I really do need to get myself organised. For Christians, Christmas is very much worth going to town over.
Just as the angelic choir broke all light pollution and sound barrier records when they appeared to the Shepherds, what this day signifies is something worth getting really excited about.
We share presents not because their cost shows how much we love another, we share those presents because we value what God has done for all of us.
It can be a chocolate watch or the most expensive Swiss action variety and the message is the same.
At Christmas we're celebrating the arrival of the God who gave up everything just to come and tell us he loves us.
So get those lights up, those cards sent, those presents bought and remember to say "thank you" to the one who is the reason for the season.
Susan Brown
