On the Fifth Day of Christmas

Or is it? Thursday 29th December might be regarded as the day for H Samuel and jewellers everywhere to cheer with glee as gold ring sales hit the roof and yet more gifts are distributed to true loves everywhere.
But has today been the fifth day, or merely the fourth day of the twelve very welcome days of Christmas? It all depends on whether you count Christmas Day as the first day, or the day after. Some sources, and my own understanding, has always been that Christmas Day stands alone, not as one of the delightful dozen, but others would say it is included. This calculation also leads to the inevitable controversy every January over when the decorations should be down: is Twelfth Night the 5th or the 6th? The sixth is certainly Epiphany, when the wise men appeared to Jesus, but in the Eastern church it is actually Christmas Day!

It all gets very perplexing, like so much else at this time of the year. Those who believe silly superstitions would certainly say you have to have your decorations down by Twelfth Night, or you will have bad "luck" throughout the year. I have no turck with that, and for my part I will keep my little fibre optic tree up in Eastbourne right til the very last minute if I can. However, the Twelve Days tradition is one I rather wish we'd make more of in modern times- especially if it involved a few more parties!

PETER PAN AND THE THREE BEARS
Today was a day to go saleing for me, and once again I took myself off to our best local major shopping centre, Kingston upon Thames. I always like to try to grab a few post-Christmas bargains in the clothes departments, even when as this year it might not come out as such a bargain by the time I've paid interest on credit! However, I did have another reason for visiting Kingston today. It was the swansong performance for this year by one of the town's most enchanting seasonal attractions, the Bentalls Bears. and I could not resist one last chance to see them again, after witnessing their charming animatatronic antics on Christmas Eve too.

The ursine trio of Barney, Amber and Daisy- a name more fitting of the cow which had joined the tableaux this year rather than a definitely boyish bear, if you ask me- have been delighting young visitors to the indoor shopping centre which was built on the site of the famous old Bentall's store with its landmark facade, for around a decade now. I say young visitors, because the little ones are clearly the main target audience -it's a real joy to see the look of delight in their eyes when our furry chums start their half hourly performance of a couple of seasonal songs. However, from experience I think middle-aged adults like me are just as charmed as the little ones by these giant furry friends. So irresistible are they, that I went and saw them no less than three times this afternoon in between my bargain-hunting.

Christmas is a time when I think we can all be justified in trying, for just a while at least, to try to recapture the wonder and enjoyment of life which seems to come so naturally to little children. It's also a time when we can dream of a better world untouched and untarnished by the cruel realities of life from which the innocent and vulnerable juniors of our world can rarely be isolated today.

Around all the other birthdays celebrated over this last week, one which has been deservedly commemorated especially is the centenary last Monday of Peter Pan and the Darling clan. Thanks to the fantastic adventures of J M Barrie's most famous creation, Pan-tomime promoters across the world will once again this year be thrilling audiences young and old with flying boys and gigantic dogs, fancy fairies and glamorous godmothers. We will continue to cheer as the boy who never grew up tries to take his charges away from the trials and tribulations of the adult world to that special place called Neverland.

But every pantomime has to have a villain, and of course in the case of Peter Pan the villain is the evil Captain Hook, with his vicious metal prosthetic hand waiting to reach out and capture his unwary victims. We'll hiss and boo his every appearance, and cheer and clap as our hero comes to the rescue of the young charges and everyone lives happily ever after.

COMING BACK DOWN TO EARTH
If only real life could be like that. The harsh and terrible reality is that 100 000 souls of every nationality and creed will never see another Christmas or enjoy any of the beauties of living and breathing on this homeland we call Earth. Last Sunday's events in the Indian Ocean fractured the fantasy in an instant, and yet somehow it is hard to take in the horrible reality of such an estimated death toll as the result of the earthquake Tsunami. This is already being described as the worst natural disaster ever, and yet there is a sense of the surreal about it which is almost like watching a Hollywood blockbuster. It's very hard to get to grips with the enormity of what has happened, even with the most graphic accounts and startling pictures the like of which have not been seen since 9/11- and I hope never will be again.
If only we could rewind the film on this horrendous event which will inevitably be the main feature on world TV news screens for weeks to come. Or better still, write a happy ending.

The main aid agencies of course are in place and have done their best to respond instantly to the urgent needs of so many people in such disparate societies separated by thousands of miles but united by the awesome and dreadful power of millions of gallons of sea water making landfall across an ocean. Whatever the agencies' efforts might bring in the way of relief of the worst suffering though, inevitably it is rather like trying to put a sticking plaster on a hole in a dam. I've no doubt I will try to do my bit, as will millions upon millions of able individuals around the world. I may have scorned the power of money on Sunday, but it also has the fantastic ability to do good at times like this.

Nevertheless, with an almost unavoidable pun, it is like a drop in the ocean compared to the devastating and incredible scale of the damage caused by the nameless tsunami- more destructive than even the worst of hurricanes can ever have been. If that word was largely unknown to most Westerners a few days ago, it surely is now for the most grim of reasons.

HEAL THE NATIONS, SAVE THE CHILDREN
But every river starts with a tiny spring. If any good can be found in recent events, and what lies ahead, it is perhaps the realisation that we are all interdependent on each other for shelter, sustenance and survival. The merciless speed with which the tidal wave took the lives of so many who were until that point getting on with their everyday life or their holiday of a lifetime, makes one realise with a cold start that life itself is as fragile and vulnerable as a piece of flimsy wrapping paper discarded on Christmas Day.

We could look on like the helpless audience at a panto where disaster strikes and feel where is God in all this. As I said the other day, it can be all too easy to try to come up with a pithy short answer to that, but of course because God is such a mystery, it cannot so easily be explained away. It seems that a huge number of the casualties of this biggest flood, dare I suggest, since Noah, were children- the most precious and the most vulnerable. Could a God of love really allow his children to suffer in this way?
Such questions on the problem of suffering have troubled men of faith for centuries. I wouldn't pretend to have the intellect or the strength of belief to add anything profound or new to what has already been said. What I do know, however, is that Jesus said whoever has faith as small as a mustard seed can move mountains.

Many mountains can potentially be moved in the next twelve months. It's supremely ironic that this time-crucial need for humanitarian assistance comes just on the cusp of Britain taking on the presidency of the G8 group of the world's richest nations, and also the rolling presidency of the EU. Next year, there is to be a special focus on the needs of Africa- a continent whose existing needs already evoke so many tears. But her people will need our help too in these next few months- it's not just Asia which felt the full force of the tsunami, but African nations too on the Indian Ocean seaboard. Indeed, the whole world weeps and the whole world suffers. Maybe the signs of spending and continued enjoyment I saw in Kingston today were actually a psychological effort to re-invigorate spirits fatigued and deadened by just one disaster too many.

The world has enough resources to feed everyone's need, but not everyone's greed. As a Christian, it's my belief that we will never see the true relief of all human suffering until the Lord comes again- and as with countless millions of believers, I pray that will be soon. But that is no excuse for not putting our money where our mouth is, showing love in action, until He come. However small our token, even if it is like the Widow's Mite in the Bible- this frail old lady gave her last penny for the needs of others- we can use it wisely and see it do miracles. Medicine may not yet have come up with the secret of eternal youth, but thanks to J M Barrie assigning the rights of Peter Pan to Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children, countless young lives have been improved and even saved thanks to one person's generosity. One hundred years on, there is a lesson there in selfless giving, child protection and the relief of suffering which we can all learn from. Children see another person's unhappiness, and they are moved to want to bring a smile back to that person's face. My prayer tonight is that the world can bring smiles back to the tear-soaked souls of a score of lands where life can never be the same again after December 2003. Let us bring them our gifts with our true love.