Merry Christmases don’t just happen by themselves.
Many of us make arrangements, plan how everything will fit together, decorate, shop, wrap, run errand after errand and bustle around for weeks. Sometimes getting ready for Christmas seems like a close call, and somehow, it usually seems to work out.
It may be that we’re the lucky ones. The stresses we face this time of year are legitimate, but mostly manageable. We know there are those in the community for whom Christmas isn’t the same as the kind most of us get to experience. For some, Christmas is hard to afford, and we know there are others who are on the outside of the warm lighted windows.
Fortunately, everyone who wants to have a Christmas in Nanaimo can have one – groups that do important work in our community are making sure of that.
The First Unitarian Fellowship at 595 Townsite Rd. is hosting its Gifts of Peace Christmas Eve get-together Dec. 24 at 4 p.m., with poetry, music, apple cider, cookies and carol singing.
Christmas morning there will be a breakfast at the 7-10 Club at 285 Prideaux St. from 9 a.m.-noon.
On Boxing Day, Dec. 26, the Wisteria Community Association is putting on Christmas on the Street at 155 Victoria Rd. from 2-9:30 p.m. with soup all day, Christmas dinner from 2-7 p.m., and music.
And then the Salvation Army is serving up a New Year’s Eve dinner 3:30-5:30 p.m. at the New Hope Centre at 19 Nicol St.
Leading up to Christmas, there were other holiday dinners at the Salvation Army and Loaves and Fishes and hamper deliveries and the like.
Many of us have supported these charities, or agencies that support these charities, during the holiday season and can be heartened to know that we helped make Christmas happen. Even at a busy season, when it’s hard to find time to be thoughtful, Nanaimo is still giving and generous.
We hope that that sort of spirit can be lasting. We hope that you will take care of yourselves and those you care about. And we hope that everyone, no matter how they celebrate the season, will have happy holidays and a merry Christmas.
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