There’s one more window on the advent calendar to open.
This is mine - it’s from Ikea.
I bought it for £2.99, which is over the odds. But I was given a £5 voucher. So I make it I’m £2 and a penny up.
When I was a boy, we didn't have chocolate in our advent calendars. Let alone cheese, Lego or whiskey miniatures.
We had pictures. Just pictures.
And the front picture - the big picture - was always the nativity scene. The baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, sheep and cattle...
Now I could say that the picture on my advent calendar was nearer what Christmas was really all about.
But even that would be stretching it. Because the real birth of Jesus wouldn't have been a cosy well-lit rural scene. It would have been a stone feeding trough, a stinky stable, and frightened young couple a long way from home.
You see, we do our best to mess up what Christmas is all about.
God has given the world the incredibly clear sign. The whole world, throughout history, an unmistakable sign:
- he has come i...
