GP Taylor: I was Scrooge, but now I've seen the light this Christmas

It was a time of year that I began to hate. The car radio would be kept off in fear of a dreaded Christmas song coming on and I would try to fill my life with non-Christmas things to do.

This year I have decided to change all that and embrace the season and all that it means. It all started with being invited to a Nativity play at the local church school. I soon found myself singing along to the songs and feeling a strange warmth creep through my bones as the smile widened on my face. As I left the church and walked into the brisk afternoon air, the hint of frost gave the day a magical feel.

Within a day, I had ordered a Christmas tree and this 10ft monster now stands proudly in the hallway, blocking the way as the lights twinkle.

I also have to confess that I have even been Christmas shopping. Plans are made for Christmas Day and, although I won’t see my children, I have a hope that this year things will be different and that somehow they know I love and miss them very much. I feel like the old man with the shovel in the film Home Alone. Perhaps, one day, they will again walk through my door. Well, that is my prayer this year.

Setting my faith aside, I believe it is really important as a community that we have a national activity and celebration in which, regardless of creed, we can all be a part of. Christmas has long lost its Christian connection for so many people, but I don’t think that matters. Long before the birth of Jesus, (who was born in October) there has been a mid-winter festival. As the sun was at its weakest, people would gather and light fires, drink, sing and share food.

This celebration is still as important today as it was back then. There is something in us all that needs to know we are part of a bigger community, that the world turns and seasons change.

There is also a responsibility for us all to make sure that those around us are welcomed to our celebrations if they are alone. It is shocking that official figures show that nearly one million people will be on their own at Christmas. I challenge you to think of someone you know who will be spending next Monday on their own.

Each one of us could change the day for someone else by welcoming them to our table.

That truly is the Christmas spirit. Forget “Black Eye Friday”, let’s have “Welcome Monday”, a day when there is a chair set aside at our tables for our neighbour.

I am encouraged, that Christmas can bring the best out of people. It is a shame that it appears to last for only a few days. Imagine a country where people were good to each other all the time and words of welcome were spoken all year round. If we could keep the spirit of Christmas and the positive good cheer all year, what a great world it would be.

We don’t have to fall for the commercial trap of sacks of presents and mountains of food. Christmas can be simple. It can be unique to our lives, but if possible, it has to be shared. Like the society we live in, Christmas comes in many shapes and sizes. It doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive, it is all about spending time doing something we enjoy and taking time out of busy lives to look at the world afresh.

It can be made to be a positive time and all we have to do is enter into the spirit of the season in our own way.

For me, Christmas can be summed up by standing at the top of the Church Steps in Whitby as the sun sets and watching the lights of the town twinkle far below as the muffled sound of carols seeps through the church door. It is the scent of horse chestnuts being roasted by the street vendor on the corner of Sandgate and the smile of the shop assistant dressed in reindeer antlers in the local shop.

Yet, in amongst all the family happiness, parties and celebrations, there will be those who feel isolated and alone. My heart goes out to all the divorced parents who find this time of year a struggle as they attempt to share their children over the holidays or like me, won’t see them at all. Whatever my situation, I am thankful for the Christmas season and, like old Ebenezer, I have woken up to the joy of Christmas and all that it brings.

GP Taylor is a writer and broadcaster and can be followed @GPTaylorauthor.