Aunty Hanui Lawrence, with the broccoli in Aunty's Garden. A broccoli salad is an easy addition to your Christmas dinner. Photo / Duncan Brown
It's that time of year again when families gather together to eat, to reminisce, to enjoy, to admire the oodles of gifts under the tree and watch as the children and grandchildren demolish them in a few moments between squeals of delight, with coloured wrappings strewn across the floor.
For
me, it's a picture of love that I once gave to each grandchild. A bucket filled with bits and pieces, fruit and candy, pencils and notebooks, endorsed with a "to you my gift and a bucketful of love", from Nan.
During this period I would haul them out of bed early and together we made our way to Aunty's garden, sometimes twenty of us, to do a couple of hours work.
No one would complain and everyone would give willingly with love.
If we remember to put "Christ" into Christmas and meet the future with faith, we can accomplish much in this ever-changing world of uncertainty and shifting values.
