What does it mean to you?

Sunny... or snowy? Hot... or cold? Where would you prefer to be at Christmas? Can you go anywhere throughout the world where you'd like to be?

Or are you stuck, now... forever... in Australia. Because you're on Newstart or DSP. Maybe homeless. Maybe no family in your area, and very few friends?

Erin Stewart, Sydney Morning Herald journalist, wrote an interesting article on how she felt that Australia is the “best place to celebrate Christmas”. She had been to Britain before and saw how brown it was. Not white. Not even colourful. At the Christmas meal the dinner plate, apparently, reflected “brown”. And yet the pics in this article were very colourful – and the non-colour was mostly what people wore!

Pictures and explanations on the WorldPic site showed different celebrations throughout the world – including Russia (picture 4): the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas on January 7^th, not December 25^th! In India only 2% celebrate the Christian reason for Christmas, yet the entire population celebrates a national holiday! And in Italy the witch La Befana distributes presents to children on 5^th January, the eve of Epiphany – I wish all witches were treated so well as there!

Have you every thought of Mexico? And piñatas? According to Marco Polo (voyager b1254 d1324) they were from China and used for their own New Year celebration. Mexico still uses them now, but the use has seemed much more commercial.

Or how about Venezuela? Seems to be the most colourful place to be! And every morning, before the church services from 16th-24^th December, the roads are closed from 8am just to let people roller skate!

If any of you have the world to choose from, good luck to you! Christmas, for me and for thousands others, is just here. ABC's “Splash” site showed a video of the celebration of Christmas in Australia in 1861 (Chapter 9), and that looked, to me, like how Christmas should be today. Back then “simple gifts made by hand” and wonderful family feelings made Christmas. These days, for those of us who either don't celebrate or will be alone, watching this video made me feel so calm.

Homeless and poor people are helped wherever there is a charity which feeds them. These events happen because of wonderful charities which exist for people in poverty - “Basket Brigade” of the Magic Foundation, Mission Australia (they're running a picnic in WA's park), Exodus Foundation in Brisbane, Manna – also in WA, Samaritans, the Smith Family and so many more!

At the start of this period, when you've planned your celebration or heading overseas (or both), please remember the people who can't celebrate here – too poor, alone, very, very depressed. Donate, if you can – especially if you are going overseas, because if you can afford that, you can afford a small present for someone in need.

Have your own Merry Christmas.