Then the Festive Season Arrived

Written by Deborah Jordaan

Good day, beautiful people of this crazy place we call earth. I hope Mother Nature hasn`t been too hard on you as we have had floods in the Midvaal area. Not being a very good time for many people. As humans we bounce back, we have to.

Today I am writing about the festive season and the feelings it brings out in us. I for one did not celebrate for a long time as I had bad experiences through the years at this time. I eventually sat down with myself and realised I had been missing out on beautiful memories with family and friends. Yes, my mother has a birthday after Christmas and she passed away in January. It is a difficult time without her but I cannot keep mourning and thinking up excuses why I do not celebrate Christmas. This year I decided to celebrate and decorate my garden and even have a small tree in my kitchen. Just seeing my hard work makes me feel that I had accomplished more than I had accomplished in years. A lot of people get depressed and feel melancholy this time of the year. It can be lonely without anyone but do something to pay it forward, and embrace your life. You get to celebrate another year, no matter how bad it was or how things are going to be – just suck it up and be a warrior to yourself. Those of us that can celebrate must be grateful as there are little children who will never see a Christmas tree or get a toy as a present. The light in my grandchildren’s eyes makes it worth every effort it takes to forget the bad times.

Today I got bad news. A girl I had known since her primary school days had suddenly passed, she was thirty years old. Imagine her family has to spend Christmas without her so suddenly. How does one even begin to imagine how it will be? Yes, it is sad but celebrate her life and enjoy the festivities the way she would have celebrated it. I believe people that have passed would not want us to mourn, if they were here they would want us to celebrate, so do that in their absence to honour them. Christmas is not just about presents it is about paying it forward to the people that cannot even afford a meal. Paying it forward this time of the year should make you feel u did something good and you made a difference in someone’s life. Giving is so much more gratifying than receiving. As I am always writing about paying it forward I hope I reach people that do pay it forward so they in turn can motivate other people. Some families might just be able to afford a meal on Christmas day but the difference is there is love and gratitude. You then get the selfish child who receives a phone and it might not be what they want. That child should be receiving nothing. They should be sent to children’s homes on Christmas Day and should see the joy on the children’s faces if they receive a minuscule gesture for a present. Hopefully, it would teach that selfish child how to be grateful.

So in my parting words, I would like to say, embrace the blessings you have and spread as much joy and love as you are able. If you can even change one person`s day at Christmas you have achieved a lot.

The Magic Toolbox

Children Story Written by Grazia Martienssen

Hello children, Big Bear here, gather round as I tell you about…

Busy Elves:
One day shortly before Christmas, Santa and his elves were so busy making toys in the workshop in the North Pole, that the elves wished the toys themselves would help. As they finished making a toolbox, the box suddenly opened by itself, and all the tools jumped out and started helping.

Different Talent:
The saw started sawing, the hammer started hammering, and each tool started doing what tools are meant to do. I don’t remember how many tools there were, but they worked hard together, and each used their talent to help the elves. Santa and the elves were very pleased and were able to take a nice break thanks to the help of the tools. They made wooden toys, plastic tools, along with both wire and fluffy toys. They made all kinds of toys and games. I was one of the first toys made and I wanted to help. I asked Santa what I could do to help and he told me to arrange smaller toys on their shelf, so that’s just what I did. At the end of the day the tools went back in the tool box and I retired to my shelf.

What kind of toys do you think they made?

Would you have helped if you were there?

Have you ever seen Santa’s workshop and his elves?

After a while I heard all the tools talking to one another. Some were even bragging about what they had done. ‘I hammered everything so nicely,’ said the hammer. ‘I tightened all the screws,’ said the screwdriver. The saw sighed, ‘I wish I was as talented as you hammer, or as clever as you screwdriver.’ Some of the other tools also wished they had different talents. Finally, the toolbox itself spoke. ‘You are all a family of tools, and you all have different talents and are all equally important,’ it said. ‘If you were all hammers how would the sawing get done? Or if you were all saws, which one of you would hammer?’ the toolbox insisted. ‘Aww I understand,’ said the saw, ‘So my job is also important.’ ‘Was my job also important?’ the pliers asked. ‘Yes,’ said a very smiley toolbox. Even Big Bear did a wonderful job of arranging the smaller toys on the shelf. I felt so proud to hear that.

What are your talents?

What are you good at?

What are your friends, brothers and sisters good at doing?

Christmas Eve:
A few days later it was Christmas Eve and Santa and the elves put us all in a big sack and flew around the world with the reindeer, to deliver gifts to all the children. I fell asleep before the magic toolbox was delivered, so I don’t know who received it.

Do you know who received the magic toolbox?

Did you or one of your friends or siblings perhaps get it?