WELL, Christmas has nearly arrived and there is precious little time left for those last-minute purchases or preparations.

Right across the world, families will be gathering to celebrate Christmas together. Last year that is precisely what we did. All our children and grandchildren flew to the Island and we had a wonderful Christmas Day at Government House.

This year will be very different. As the children were with us last year, it is only right that they should spend this Christmas with their in-laws.

For Valerie and me, this will be a first. We spent our first Christmas together on our honeymoon in the Slovenian Alps. The following year was rather different and I spent Christmas Day flying a helicopter overhead in Londonderry during the Troubles.

By the following year we had our first child and from then on Christmas has focused on the children and subsequently the grandchildren. So with no children around this will be a very different Christmas for us, 34 years on from our honeymoon.

It does, however, prompt us to think of those who are unable to spend a traditional Christmas together with their families.

As one looks around the world it seems even more difficult than normal to reconcile the Christmas message of the birth of Christ and the spreading of peace and goodwill to all men, with what is actually going on.

As the world reels from the shock of the terrorist attack on hotels in Mumbai; as the facts about starvation, oppression and disease in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe continue to emerge in all their horrific detail; as the fighting among rival ethnic groups intensifies in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo; and just because the world’s media are no longer enthralled by conflict in Darfur does not mean that the situation is any better in Sudan than it has been at any point in recent years; it really is difficult to focus on shepherds and angels and Christ’s birth in a manger.

And yet perhaps there is a positive message in all of this. Just because we cannot solve every problem in the world does not mean that we should not continue to do what we can where we can. I am repeatedly amazed at the generosity of Jersey people when supporting charities, especially those involved in international relief work.

This support is not just financial. Many Islanders have devoted much of their lives to communities around the world in desperate need of help and spend much of their time in difficult and dangerous places helping other people. It is also true to say that you do not have to travel far to find people in need of help. There are many in this Island who are disadvantaged and in need of support. Again the charitable effort that supports them is admirable and reflects great credit on the Island’s well developed sense of community spirit.

Perhaps this then is the true meaning of Christmas: a willingness among all the parties and presents, the carols and the turkey, to think of those who do not share the joy of living in such a community as we do. Those who will struggle to sustain themselves in safety while the Christian world celebrates the birth of Christ, himself born into a land ravaged by occupation and strife. As we do so, perhaps we should spare a thought for the members of Her Majesty’s Armed Forces deployed around the world, but especially in Afghanistan and Iraq, who will not be spending this Christmas with their families.

It is, perhaps, worth remembering that over 200 of our servicemen have been killed or wounded on operations since last Christmas and the conflict in Afghanistan looks likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

Closer to home we should pay tribute to those dedicated members of our emergency services; in the Police, the Fire and Rescue Service and the Ambulance Service as well as the doctors and nurses at the hospital who will be on duty on our behalf on Christmas Day; and those staff members at the Shelter and the Refuge and elsewhere in our community who give their time so freely to care for the disadvantaged members of the community.

Despite the difficult circumstances that prevail around much of the world today, I do believe that there is a lot for the Island to celebrate this Christmas.

The way that the population has responded to requests for charitable support has been remarkable and should be cause enough for celebration at this time of year. So let us all look forward and pray for a year to come in which communities around the world begin to learn to live in peace with one another; and may Jersey people continue to support disadvantaged people at home and abroad as they have done so willingly and so successfully during this year.

Valerie joins me in wishing you all a very happy Christmas and a prosperous, but above all a peaceful, New Year.

The Lieutenant-Governor and his wife Valerie with their Pomeranian dog Wil-a-bee Picture: ROB CURRIE (00607914)