’Tis the season, as the saying goes, but the season for what?
For some, it is a solemn time where the focus is on the traditional biblical story, with the addition of joyous music, candlelight services and the careful placing of the baby Jesus in the manger.
For others, it is Hanukkah with traditions that go back thousands of years, with the lighting of the candles and special foods.
Many others will celebrate a long weekend this year with no particular religious overtone, but with appreciation for the additional time to spend with family and friends.
However you choose to celebrate this most joyous of holidays, we hope you will reflect on how fortunate we are to be able to do so in peace and security and with hope for the future.
As we have learned so often in the past year, we cannot take these things for granted.
We are fortunate not to be in refugee camps that now house millions of people throughout the world.
We are fortunate that we go to the mall or the movie theatre or school without fearing for our safety.
We are fortunate to not have to make life-or-death decisions about our family’s future every day – choosing between staying in a war-torn land or making a perilous journey to safety that might or might not ever come.
We are fortunate to have people around us: family, friends, neighbours, co-workers, loved ones from all walks of life who also enjoy this country of peace and security.
We are fortunate to have enough – enough to eat, enough to live on. Most of us have food in the cupboard, heat in our homes, medical care at our disposal when we need it.
And we are fortunate to live in a country where, when life takes a turn for the worse and we no longer have enough, we have places to turn – we have organizations that offer help and assistance all year long and a government that provides support for its citizens.
Whatever your beliefs, we hope you will be grateful this season for all that we have.
Joy is not guaranteed in this world, and peace can vanish in an instant.
’Tis the season to remember.
