During the Autumn of 1996 we decided in the Grimshaw houshold that we would work hard to make this Christmas a Christmas to remember, our girls were still young and I had all but worked right through the previous two Christmases, so we put some real effort into Advent ninety six, I even took time out of work to attend my daughters school nativity assembley, we went to everything going, the different events at Church, we planned Christmas Eve carefully, driving to a local deer park and then attending the Church Christingle service, we had done everything we could and had the most amazing Christmas Day.
I sat in the lounge on Boxing Day morning when their was a crash and a scream, I rushed into the hallway to find my three year old daughter at the foot of the stairs and my wife about four or five steps from the top of the flight, Emma, my daughter was fine, small children have a wonderful ability to bounce, Karen my wife had obviously broken her left foot, and as she looked at her foot, she passed out. My actions next, made things a whole lot worse, I remembered the vital instruction not to move the casualty, so ran into the lounge and dialled 999, I was just about to hang up, when I heard karen slide down the rest of the stairs and it dawned on me that maybe I should have made sure she was safe, before I left her.
Karen had badly broken her left ankle and what took a few seconds to happen, took many months to repair, but our desire to make Christmas ninety six had been fulfilled, it will be a year we will possibly never forget for all the wrong reasons. My memory of that Christmas was that, in spite of our plans suddenly having to be changed, Christmas was still memorable. Many of us will be shifted to tier four at the beginning of Boxing Day this year, and I guess that for many of us, Christmas 2020 will be a memorable Christmas for all the wrong reasons. The Methodist Church Christmas Campaign this year is “God is with us” and we must remember that however our plans change, the best is God is with us.