There has to be …

……. MORE TO IT THAN THIS 

It’s fair to say that the “TOY SHOW” remains a memory for most of us.  We looked at it with a sense of excitement and it was, in many ways, a lovely family occasion.  You saw there, things that you’d dream about and hope for but with an unstated awareness you’d not get “this year”.  It didn’t matter though.  There was  something about it that made it very special and, in many ways, essential viewing. 

Maybe it’s just me, but it seems to have changed a lot in recent times.  It’s more than just change of presenters.  It seems to be about self-promotion of one kind or another – from the fleeting visits or cameo appearances of “pop stars” to the cringe-inducing antics of the “ganzee man” himself who, in all fairness, gives it all he has.  There seems,       nonetheless to be a need to promote this “event” in a way I don’t recall from the past.  We just seemed to know the “TOY SHOW” would be on and that was it.  Now it’s a news item – we are virtually dragged into the studio with wall to wall coverage of the upcoming festival and it’s hailed as the beginning of Christmas.  

I hope it’s not that I’ve grown too old to enjoy something like this.  It’s likely that children still sense the excitement but, to be honest, I’m not so sure.  We seem to have lost a lot somewhere along the way.  Is it innocence?  That may well be the reality of our loss but a deeper question, and that’s the reason for these words being here, is it Faith? 

Has “BLACK FRIDAY” replaced GOOD FRIDAY?  Has the Toy Show and the constant bombardment of advertising that wants us to think it’s Christmas Eve, with just five minutes left before shops close, replaced Advent? 

The answer is “NO”.   The Advent Wreath is before us, the journey is beginning a-fresh and we’ll take it all with us to the door and straw of the Bethlehem Stable and, on Christmas Day, we’ll rejoice in the opened presents and the Birth of our Saviour.