How has 2017 been for you? Maybe it has been a good year and it’s full of good memories. Maybe it has been a tough year and you will be glad to see the back of it. Maybe it’s a mix of both.

Life is a tricky business and it’s far from easy.

It’s important to celebrate when we can. And it’s important to see the bigger picture of our lives rather than just our day to day experience.

Christians celebrate Christmas to remember that God loved the world so much that God sent Jesus to be with us. So, whether we have had a good year or a tough year we can be thankful for God’s love for us.

It’s perfectly possible to enjoy Christmas without being religious. Jesus seems to have liked a party so I think that he would be in favour of celebrations.

However you celebrate, and whether you are religious or not, I wish you a Happy Christmas, and I hope that some of that happiness will carry over into 2018.

The Rev’d Sarah Jones

St Mary The Virgin, Ross,

St Michael and All Angels, Walford and St Michael and All Angels, Brampton Abbotts