Its Christmas Time.....

Despite the trials and tribulations of 2020, Christmas has arrived. Whether you celebrate Christmas as a religious occasion or simply appreciate the time off that most of us get around December and January, it doesn't really matter. The fact is that the festive season has arrived Covid-19 and other events not withstanding. Although we have moaned our lockdowns and the restrictions

enforced on us by the Government in an effort to prevent Covid running rampant , it would also pay us to consider what these restrictions and lockdowns have given us - this Christmas we can gather as families. We are not limited to family groups of three as in the United Kingdom ( how would you go about deciding which of your family is invited to Christmas Dinner and which must stay away?) and our lives continue almost as normal. Yes, there are many for whom Covid has cost them their jobs, their security and their careers and my heart goes out to them but it could have been so much worse. Our death toll could have been in the 10,000s, solitary isolations could be very common; travel between cities could be non-existent and families could be unable to see each other ( grandparents are not the most technologically adept as rule so zoom, facebook and skype would be of little help)

For the problems Covid has brought to us, the New Year brings us something too - Hope. The promise of a better year in 2021. And a chance to look back on 2020 and congratulate ourselves. We survived. Our communities are still together, our sense of humour is still intact and despite the deaths Covid has brought, we still have a life and the ability to live it. We have a lot to be grateful for because we live in Aotearoa - the Land of the Long White Cloud.