There comes a time in every family when the question as to where to spend Christmas becomes a matter of real decision-making. Where is “home”? For some, the parental home is somewhere they haven’t lived since setting sail for college and/or job years ago, and while the house or town may be where they grew up, it isn’t home now, or is it?

Home is where the heart is, and it may be that simply where you live is very much home, notwithstanding where parents and grandparents are. So, some opt to stay put, and invite relatives to join them, or not! Either way, the whole world seems to be on the move at, or before, Christmas, and the most important thing is to be together in whatever family group is possible, or indeed with friends. For some, a Christmas home may be a house-party at a hotel or centre or even a youth-hostel, so that they are not alone at this great festival.

The Travelling Crib ( a Mexican tradition called ‘Posada’) has become something we do here, to remind ourselves of how it was that Mary & Joseph had nowhere to call home in the days before she gave birth to Jesus, the Saviour of the World. By offering hospitality to the knitted figures, a different family on each of the 24 days of December to Christmas Eve, identifies with the need to open home and heart to those in need, and to give God a resting-place. This year, courtesy of a group of ladies who have been working hard, each host family will keep a knitted sheep as a reminder of the visit of the Holy Family, as it journeys via our villages to Swaffham Bulbeck for the 4.00 pm Blessing of the Crib Family Service on Christmas Eve. (If you would like to be a host-family, there may still be time, so do ask Mandy Kingsmill (tel. 01638 742482), and if it’s too late for this year, she will be keen to know of your interest for next.)

So, in wishing you all a very Happy Christmas, where ever you travel, remember that God travels with you, if you will give him a place in your heart.