The Star. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1922. CHRISTMAS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16923, 23 December 1922, Page 8

The Star. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1922. CHRISTMAS.

Christmas again ! Probably Scrooge spoke quite truly when he said it found most of us just a year older and not a penny richer. But there are few Scrooges in the world, and many | Scrooge’s nephews, and to nearly every- | body in the country the season brings a sense of genuine rejoicing, the will tj do a little better than one did yesterJ day, and an earnest desire to see those | about us gladdened. For this reason, j if for no other, the world would be , much the poorer for the lack of a ! Christmas season. Jokes have been j made from time immemorial about j Christmas —of paterfamilias searching j his pockets for his last half-penny, of the atrocious present 6cnt by the maiden ! aunt, and all the rest of them—but the I solemnity of the dominant truth outlives all the jokes, and the laughter is ever an expression of the real joy that the Reason brings. Christmas is the season that, of all seasons in the year, gives to human beings an opportunity to lay aside for the moment, the cares and burdens of life, and to give unrestrained outflow to the love and good fellowship that, with all our imperfections, is present in all of us. The phrase “ Merry Christmas ” that is the formal expression of this season may have become time-worn and hackneyed through use. but the sentiment behind it is as genuine as ever, and the real wish for good as abundant and sincere. No other factor in our lives is so potent in keeping alive our love of our fellows, cur tolerance for what we regard as their weaknesses and our wish to 6ee them prosper and bp happy. Down all the years from the dawn of Christianity that spirit has beeo operating for our good, and the cumulative effect for the good of the world is incalculable. Nowhere is the joy of Christmas more potent or more apparent than in the home. Riches and poverty cease, for the time, to be factors in life. There is nothing that can be compared to the joy in the. small household on the dawn cf Christmas morning; there is nothing that can compare to the wonderful eagerness of the children ; and there is nothing to compare with the din that they make with the toys that Father Christmas lias left them overnight! The parents find that they have been endowed with an unusual capacity for the toleration of all th* row the youngsters can make, and with the ability to join with them in all their

avxui/v jum witn mem in an tneir antics and to enjoy all their games. hich gives rise to the speculation of whether, for the duration of Christmas Day at. all events, we really are a year older.