Yearning for a simpler Christmas: By MARK DAWSON

Carols By Candlelight at Virginia Lake and Candle Vigil run by Wanganui Chapter of Compassionate Friends Your Education Exchange Students on 6 - 12 month exchange from German, France, Sweden and S

CHRISTMAS. Tis the season to be jolly ... ho-ho ho-hum.

It all began with a rush and a lot of stress - all very last-minute, with anxieties about food, fitting everybody in, not getting sick, uninvited guests ... The usual palaver.

But that was Jesus, Mary and Joseph and Christmas 101 all those years ago.

They were blessed. Okay, things were pretty desperate for that family as they are for many families now, but they didn't have to worry about January's credit card bill or dumping sackfuls of wrapping and rubbish at the recycling centre or the cat climbing up the Christmas tree and bringing it tumbling down.

Things were simpler then - the basics were what mattered. How we might yearn for a simpler Christmas.

In the intervening years, the festive farrago has taken on a life of its own. It's become a Santa-sized mission of organisational logistics and disappointed expectations. It snares us in a net of tinsel and ribbon and throws us around. It's an out-of-control rollercoaster.

And we haven't hit the Boxing Day sales yet.

For many, Christmas has become an exercise in survival - getting through it all with bank balance and sanity still in the black.

And for what end purpose? Ah, well ... it's tradition, and who wants to be dubbed a spoilsport.

Hopefully you all made it through the mayhem, had fun ... and perhaps found time to reflect that next year you'll scale it back a bit and make it a little easier on yourself.