I spent time today with someone for whom Christmas is a real trial. 
 
I'm not keen on the season myself, but any difficulty I have is dwarfed by that endured by those who have experienced trauma at Christmas.  It's natural to think of those who have been bereaved at this time  - especially today because of the tragedy in Glasgow - but I am thinking of people for whom the memory of their childhood Christmases will always be full of violence, extreme deprivation and terror. The pressure to be happy at Christmas is all the more painful when all of your earliest experiences of the event are tinged with fear.  I wish these were isolated cases, but I know they are much more common in Scotland than most of us want to accept.   

In the words of Sorley MacLean 'I took a little weeping to my eyes' as I unwrapped our lovely reindeer and lit the candles on our mantelpiece.