I meet a lot of ministers who say that the idea that ministers are especially busy at Christmas is a myth.  I wonder what planet they live on!  Granted, I don't spend as much time writing carefully crafted, hopefully profound, sermons as at other times of year, but the sheer quantity of services, and all the intricacies of ecumenical negotiations for collaborative outreach mean one heck of a lot of work.

This morning I have been printing service leaflets -  fifty, on white with coloured bits, for Sing Christmas; 200 on pale green plus 10 gargantuan print for Sing Like an Angel (our tea-then-carol-service outreach); 150 on yellow - and do I need any gargantuan? - for the Christingle service.  Then there will a couple of dozen of Christmas Eve communion, and trust the Meths to sort the ones for Christmas Day which they are hosting...

In the coming days I also have the lunch club Christmas dinner and a trip to a 'living nativity' with the reception class at school as well as the usual round of hospital visits (I assume there are churches where no one spends Christmas on the NHS...?) meetings and administration.

What excites me is the potential to interact with anything up to 500 people in a week, sharing with them in some small measure what this season is, for Christians, celebrating.

Already I have the onset of the "ministers' Christmas cold" (obligatory in this community, it seems) but am looking forward to the coming few days. I am happy to have a Christmas rush, not unhappy to miss Christmas TV for hospital visits and ferrying lonely souls to and from lunch out at a restaurant.  As for those who see Christmas as a slow down time in their ministry - well that's fine; just maybe they miss out some of the delight as well?