For most of my life I have disliked the run-up to the British Christmas, on religious grounds. Advent is intended to be like Lent, a time of abstinence. Your thoughts are directed to the Four Last Things — Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell. The Twelve Days which begin on 25 December are the time for feasting, and the fun lessens if it is pre-empted. Advent is expressed in the great Sentences (‘Drop down dew, ye heavens from above…’ etc.), and in rather mystical hymns like ‘Come, O come Emmanuel’, not in God-rest-ye-merry-figgy-pudding stuff. And even Christmas itself, though certainly joyful, has never been and should not be the most important feast of the Church. It would make no difference to the essence of Christianity if there were no Christmas (though obviously Jesus had to be born), whereas the faith simply would not exist without Easter. So the decorations in offices, the pre-Christmas parties, the paper hats, the displays in shops, the piped carols have always put me in a temper.
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