Here comes a Christmas Day like no other

What a year, folks, what a year.

Christmas Day is suddenly a disaster for most families.

A month ago, as restrictions were eased, we thought, well, Christmas will be OK, just like it was in 2020.

Well, it was OK for everyone except those whose relatives were in states like Western Australia and Queensland, where they put politics before family gatherings on Christmas Day.

Now, even if your family are spread around Greater Sydney, there will be some of them who won’t make it to the most important gathering of the year for the Christian tribe.

But no matter what, we will, as humans always do, keep going and hope that things will get better as soon as possible.

It will help if the small minority among us who still don’t get it about this insidious virus, roll up their sleeves, too, and join the noble fight to regain normality.

Yesterday at Macarthur Square to buy some last minute gifts it was disappointing to see so many people not wearing masks.

On a day when 7,500 people tested positive to the virus you’d think it would have been a wake up call for them.

Same with the conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxxers – what a sad lot of people they are.

Instead of doing their patriotic duty like almost 95 percent of us and getting vaccinated, they spend their time immersed into the dark net looking for more conspiracy theories to harangue the ones doing the right thing.

It’s ironic that most of the 95 percent adopt a “live and let live’’ attitude to these humourless renegades.

But they respond by accusing us of being sheep, under the total control of the government, blah blah blah.

Please forgive me for being so serious this year, but it has been that kind of year, and it looks like ending on a sombre note for a lot of us.

Let’s face it, we’re leaving behind a rollercoaster year and looking ahead at we know not what.

At the end of 2020 we started hoping that 2021 would see the beginning of the end of the pandemic.

Now we know for sure that this virus is here for the long haul; that it’s playing a long game.

And maybe that’s what we need to do as well. Governments, too, need to stop pretending they can get ahead of the curve of this thing. Common sense measures should form the foundation of our response.

In the meantime, stay calm and keep being resilient, fellow humans, we know we can survive just about anything.

So, wherever you are in the world, I sincerely hope you have as Merry a Christmas as possible.

And definitely a much Happier New Year.