Christmas stands for the human factor which makes life tolerable midst the hurry of commerce and production. All of us need the annealing effect of Christ's example to relieve the hardening we get in the daily struggle for material success.

Let the children have their night of fun and laughter, let the gifts of Father Christmas delight their play. Let us grown-ups share to the full in their unstinted pleasures.

It is this simplicity of the Christmas story that makes it so universally appealing, simple happenings that formed the starting point of the life of Jesus. A man whose teachings have been handed down from generation to generation, and have been the bedrock of my faith.

I am sure someone somewhere today will remark that Christmas is a time for children. It's an engaging truth, but only half the story. Perhaps it's truer to say that Christmas can speak to the child within us all. Adults, when weighed down with worries, sometimes fail to see the joy in simple things, where children do not.

It's no surprise that families so often treasure their Christmas routines. We see our own children and their families embrace the roles, traditions, and values that mean so much to us - as these are passed from one generation to the next, sometimes being updated for changing times. I see it in my own family and it is a source of great happiness.

They teach us all a lesson - just as the Christmas story does - that in the birth of a child, there is a new dawn with endless potential.