A Beautiful Christmas
By Esther Smith
Christmas morning dawned. At Crag House Farm, the home of Caring For Life, there was a covering of several inches of snow and every twig, blade of grass and seedhead was covered in a sheath of ice, which sparkled magically in the sunshine under clear blue skies. It truly was a winter wonderland.
For several weeks, CFL’s Being There housing support team had been assembling around 150 individual gifts, food hampers and all the essentials to ensure that those in their care had a truly happy Christmas. Without CFL’s support, almost all these people would have been alone at Christmas or would have no gifts or cards, and everyone pulled together to ensure that this didn’t happen. Invitations had gone out to a number of parties and Christmas celebrations, to ensure that everyone was catered for.
Churches, companies and individual supporters had bought presents for those in our care, wrapping them in Christmas paper and labelling them all. TFJs, Time For Jesus volunteers, had been kept busy wrapping scores of boxes of chocolates and toiletries, and many had already been distributed.
Supporters had also sent mince pies, a Christmas cake, sprouts, carrots and potatoes, plus plenty of drinks, Christmas tablecloths, crackers and napkins. One supporter had made “favours” for the Christmas Lunch table, and following an incredibly hilarious and memorable party on Christmas Eve, the CFL centre was transformed, as tables were laid out and decorated in readiness for Christmas Day.
On that beautiful Christmas Day morning, staff and volunteers swung into action. People rose early to set off in cars and travel across Leeds to pick people up to spend Christmas Day at CFL. One member of staff drove in from Sheffield and took a minibus all over the city to pick people up. So many wanted to attend that the transport arrangements were highly complicated!
Sixty five people arrived at Grace Community Church, Leeds North, for a Christmas morning service, joining others at the church and filling a local hall, where members had been busy shovelling snow to clear the car park. Following a lively service, everyone made their way to Crag House Farm and was greeted with cups of mulled fruit cup and hot mince pies. People gradually found their place names at the table and the room exploded as crackers were pulled and jokes shared.
Christmas Lunch was delicious and whilst everyone had a break between courses, 
presents were given out and eagerly unwrapped. Everyone had something chosen especially for them, along with extra smaller gifts. There was something for every person, from a five month old baby to a gentleman who is 82 years old. After lunch, this elderly gentleman insisted on making a rather moving speech, thanking CFL for giving him such a happy Christmas Day and for being there for him, as he would otherwise have been completely alone.
By early afternoon, some guests were quite exhausted and were provided with lifts home, whilst most stayed on to play a variety of table games, watch a film or join in a pretty exhilarating snowball fight!
Finally, at teatime everyone was given a lift home, each with a box of mince pies and a Christmas pudding, plus lots of other gifts of food. No one was going to go hungry for quite some time, and everyone seemed to have thoroughly enjoyed the 
day.
On reflection, we realised that not a single cross word had been exchanged all day long. There had been no conflicts, no upsets and no problems. There is always the potential for things to be very different and we thank God for such a beautiful and wonderfully happy day!
