     Ah, the tastes of Christmas: the flavours of almond, fruit cake and chocolate; the tang of cinnamon; the comfort of shortbread and homemade bread. There's the flavour of desserts, the snap of ginger, the crunch of potato chips, the decadence of chip dip, the seduction of cream-filled puffs and the lip-smacking goodness of turkey and gravy. Hands down, Christmas tastes like no other time of the year.
         Our family has never had the money or the desire to celebrate extravagantly but over the years we've amassed decades of beautiful Christmas Eve memories. Tobogganing on prairie snow, long drives up steep West Coast mountain roads in search of the tiniest patch of snow. Wiener roasts. Family times. Reading the story of the Nativity together. Unwrapping gifts and of course, eating. All these are reasons to look back and remember a multitude of memories spent in the presence of friends, loved ones and food.
         Perhaps its just my imagination but it seems that this year there is an increased need for food bank donations. Even in our "prosperous" Canada and United States of America, there is a staggering need for physical nourishment served with generous portions of love, human and divine.
         For too many the glow of shared love is absent, replaced by the heartbreaking sense of loneliness or loss. The first Christmas following a broken marriage or the nagging memory of a fractured childhood. Merriment now replaced by separation, be it  through distance, disagreement or death. Soul-starvation manifests itself in a deep hunger for the presence of someone who honestly cares.
         If ever there was a season in which to drink responsibly and eat thankfully, it's Christmas. Let's just be sure we share freely, give generously and celebrate wholeheartedly.
         "If you extend your soul to the hungry…then your light shall dawn in the darkness…." Isaiah 58:9-11
