Delia Smith: My love of Christmas
Christmas is a thoroughly good thing - something that Charles Dickens instinctively understood when he wrote his famous A Christmas Carol. The main character, Ebenezer Scrooge, was a cynic who hated Christmas so much that he thought anyone with Merry Christmas on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding and buried with a stake of holly in his heart.
"The story of his conversion, and how he became an ardent lover of Christmas, is a perceptive and powerful observation on human life. Dickens understood the innate need we all have to step aside from the daily grind and take time out for feasting, sharing and having fun. With or without any specific religious belief Christmas fulfils that intrinsic human need for celebration. So as Dickens put it elsewhere ‘draw up your chair nearer the blazing fire - fill your glass and send round the song.'"
The above is part of the introduction to my new Christmas book. I'm including it here because it sets out precisely what I think Christmas is about. Yes, it's true I am a passionate believer and appreciate the meaning of what we are about to celebrate. But that, in turn, has led me to an equally passionate belief in human life and what an important role the joy of Christmas has in our existence.
For a few days each year, we become a proper community: everyone rushing about doing the same preparations, sharing the same feast and most of us sharing the same holiday. There will always be cynics like Scrooge, but the story of his transformation makes a wonderful read or is equally great to listen to while you snip candied peel or chop nuts.
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