Christmas can be a hectic time of year for anyone trying to sort out gifts for family or friends, but here at Caring For Life we have to think about Christmas gifts and activities for 150 people. Quite a big family!

For the sixteen gentlemen and ladies resident in our two supported homes, Christmas is a very special time. Some will be returning to family at Christmas, but for the majority, there is no safe family to go to, yet they are looking forward, with growing excitement, to spending Christmas with their CFL family. Gifts are being purchased, special food is being bought and during the next week or two, the houses will be decorated and Christmas trees put up.

We are so thankful to have new staff in each home, helping to spread the burden of extra tasks at this time of year. Martin and Linda are both new team members who will be working this Christmas, helping to give those in their care a very happy time. Yet this time of year can lead to depression, even in those who are surrounded by love and care. Knowing that your real family just doesn't want you, or knowing that it is simply not safe for you to be in contact with them, is a devastating thought for vulnerable people. It is vital that the staff team provide compassionate and sensitive support at this special time of the year.

For the Housing Support Team at CFL, 120 people who live independently in the community are relying on the team to make their Christmas a happy one. Work started some months ago, as requests went out to buy gifts for individuals and as food was very generously donated by churches and schools.

Early in December, volunteers from Asda and staff and volunteers at CFL all got together in one of our polytunnels and made up 100 Christmas hampers, wrapping large boxes in Christmas paper and filling them with items of food donated earlier. Now the Housing Support team is beginning to distribute hampers and gifts. When you have 100 + people to deliver to, Father Christmas has to start early!

Christmas Day can be a painfully lonely time for those living alone, many of whom may not have a single friend or relative to be with. For such people, Caring For Life organizes a special celebration at Crag House Farm. This year, Pat, one of our trustees, is in charge of catering to give our chef a break and Pat has already been busy for some time baking Christmas puddings and cakes!

Eighteen staff and volunteers are on hand to work on Christmas Day and 100 people have been invited along. If everyone turns up, our small centre could be well and truly crowded out! Everyone will receive gifts, there will be games and lots of fun and our prayer is that every person present will experience the love of Jesus and hear the wonderful news of his coming into our world, as we spend the day together.

At Crag House Farm special events are planned and already underway, with a CFL family Christmas dinner on the horizon, to be followed later on by a special Charismas buffet and our now rather famous “Review”. This is a bit of fun; well, actually a lot of fun, as members of our drama and music workshops, groups of staff, young people and volunteers all prepare to put on silly sketches, sing or generally make fools of themselves. Everyone who has attended one of these events knows that they are likely to go home with their sides and jaws aching from loads of laughter and this event is one that is very eagerly anticipated.

Whilst all this planning and preparation goes on, concrete is being poured into the foundations of our new PAM building, (People and Animals Meeting), and work continues on our new Adult Learning Centre. Work will stop for a few days over Christmas, but otherwise the teams of workers are forging ahead, despite bitterly cold weather and gale force winds.

This is a tremendously exciting time at CFL and many of those in our care are praying very fervently for the building work, for supporters who need our prayers and for events going on in the world. It can be almost impossible to get a word in at our prayer meetings. No long silences; quite the opposite!

Our work is built on prayer and our special prayer at Christmas is that those in our care who feel the most lonely at Christmas, due to their sad experiences in childhood and their ongoing sense of rejection, will all find in the Lord Jesus Christ the One who can be their very best friend, the one of whom Christmas speaks.

We have seen some beautiful starlit nights here at Crag House Farm, the home of Caring For Life, a reminder of the Christmas scene where the star rested above the stable where Jesus was born.

We are facing very exciting times as a Trust and also enormous, at times scary challenges, yet each day this week, a rainbow has rested over the farm, another reminder of God's promises and goodness.

We will soon enter a New Year and who know what lies ahead, yet we know the One who holds the future, and we give all the glory to Him!