Party Chair
Happy holidays to you and your loved ones.
When I reflect on Christmases of my youth, I do not remember specific gifts or toys, but the people, food and holiday memories. That feeling of home, of comfort, joy, warmth and that feeling that the Grinch has when his two sizes too small heart grows and grows and grows. To me, this is what Christmas is all about; it’s about traditions, family, friends and loved ones.
To me, the holidays is spending time with family. Of looking into the eyes of my young boys as they believe in everything that makes Christmas magical. From decorating cookies for Santa (a brief time that they weren’t arguing as brothers do), to watching Christmas movies as a family, one of my aims is to help create memories for them to have when they are older of the feelings of Christmas.
Have you ever noticed that when watching a Christmas movie, the focus is never on the toys or the material items; but rather it’s on good vs evil; of love and hope; of the belief that at Christmas if you believe hard enough in something, then maybe, just maybe it will come true.
I am hopeful for us as a country as we have been though a lot this year, but as Bermudians do, we band together and we move forward, together.
Our country as we know it was turned upside down. Tourism, for the majority, stopped; restaurants closed; retail shops shuttered. But something else happened at that time… we as Bermudians remembered that the strength of our country does not come from our jobs, but it comes from our people. We banded together to work and donate to feeding programs; we looked out for our neighbors; we supported our local businesses; we openly talked about the mental impact of all of this, and we are surviving this.
This is a Christmas that none of us could have predicted. It’s a Christmas where giving to charities and families in need has become more important to us then what we have under the tree for ourselves. Ensuring that people have food on their table, a roof over their heads, and working electricity… that we have the Bermudian spirit in us.
During this very unusual Christmas, lets all take a moment and reflect on what Christmas truly is to us as individuals and how we can help to ensure that those in our community are also safe. But let’s also remember the spirit of 2020, the spirit of giving and helping, and allow that to continue with us moving forward into 2021.