A WAR-TIME CHRISTMAS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 197, 24 December 1941, Page 4

A WAR-TIME CHRISTMAS

SO deeply implanted is the observance of Christmas that even war cannot overthrow the great human desire to mark the festive occasion in something approaching time: honoured manner. This custom which seems to be almost part of ourselves defies even the forces which have fanned, the fires of war throughout the ages, for we find that the spirit of Christmas invades the very trenches in which the men of either side are fighting for what both consider a righteous cause. It is a strange Christmas, this of 1942,, bringing as it does memories of 1914, 15, 16 and 17. A Christmas for sober thought, of smiles which conceal silent suffering, of carefully cultivated lightness which screens anxiety and care. Yet somehow the two opposing forces, the very antithises of each other, are fused by the miracle of the magical Christmas period. The period of handclasping, good wishes, smiles and happiness is here with us once again, and though it is a far call to the colourful days of Charles Dickens who has enshrined it forever in every Englishman's heart, we cannot resist its warmth or its light. The festive spirit is as contageous as the measles, and defies the deepest gloom. So, we come "to our war-time Christmas, a little more sober a little less boisterous, but nevertheless, prepared to do, honour to the festival of goodwill which is so rooted in our character. There will be considerably less travelling this year—a not unmixed drawback, for it will reintroduce more of the homely Christmas of a decad.e or two ago when families foregathered and the general home-coming of children and grandchildren to the old 'home' took place. There will we hope, be many such reunions this year, caused directly by the drastic rationing of petrol, and the official order to the population in general to 'stay put.' In the Eastern Bay of Plenty we are fortunate in having sea and a popular beach resort almost at our back doors. It will be no great hardship for the average family to take advantage of this proximity, and in this respect we are to be thankful that during the school holidays it will be possible to give the children an outing with the minimum of effort. The war situation may have cramped our style but it cannot kill Christmas, nor is there any need for it so to do in a land so favoured as ours.