Christmas orphans

It's the aftermath of a day of family & fun times. I woke up to breakfast in bed & Bing Crosby Christmas Carols creating a perfect post Christmas ambience. Finally a record player for Christmas....so we can listen to our big stack of records collected & pulled out of storage over the year.
This season is a time of reflection for me - of a year that has whizzed by in record speeds with milestones, highs, lows & significant moments. It was virually impossible to find quiet moments yesterday, but I did escape to our reading room with the Christmas tree, waded through the sea of torn wrapping paper & curled up in the lounge for some time out.
Yesterday I had just sat down to Christmas lunch and we had just cracked our bonbons when the phone rang. It was my friend who had organised a Christmas lunch for 'Christmas orphans' who didn't have family nearby. One such person I had met the week before in Church. We had a brief conversation & I asked her what she was doing for Christmas. She was a single mum & her two sons were going to two different places. She didn't have family & was 'planning' to spend Christmas alone in her big house.
We organised for her to come to my friends lunch, but the call I received was to say she hadn't turned up. Did I have her mobile? I said I would try to remember where I put it, said goodbye & went back to lunch.
It was hard to refocus knowing someone I knew was having a lonely Christmas. It was even harder when hubby tested his new bonbon whistle at great lengths right next to me and my dad's eardrums.
We had just prayed over lunch & read our jokes when I suddenly remembered where I had written her number - in an old notebook in my drawer. I raced to my room & called her. She was home alone as we thought - the only reason being that she was too shy to meet new people. I said it would be worse to sit at home alone then take the risk to meet someone new. She finally agreed & said she would go.
I received a text later to say she was enjoying Christmas lunch with a whole lot of new friends and having a great time!
Just a small moment in my day, but it's heart breaking to know that during our present laden Christmas celebrations that thousands of people in our nation are sitting alone with the sharp reality of family-less day bringing an ache that any gift from Santa could not ease.
This is the one day of the year where loss of loved ones is felt beyond words, that broken relationships and the estrangement of family members can be seen as a mistake.
This is the one day of the year that the love of God must be magnified brightly, and needs to wrap itself around the Christmas orphans - those who have for whatever reasons not been invited to celebrate with another, or had noone to invite to their own.
Let's think about next Christmas early, and make sure that everyone in our world feel's the love that only Jesus can bring.

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. (KJV)
Luke 2:14