5 November 2025

Christmas is going to be big this year! At least that’s what Caulders would have you believe. We were in the Garden Centre near Cupar recently and bought some plants. Out of interest, we had a walk round their huge display of Christmas ornaments, trees and gifts. Everything was big!

I saw a very attractive bauble for a tree. It was dressed in the pattern of a harlequin in silver and red. It looked festive and fun! But it was very big. I looked again. It was fit for a 10’ Christmas Tree but our Christmas Tree is barely half the size. How many people have rooms big enough for tall trees?

There were beautiful bows. Some of them were in an attractive tartan. Once again, they were very big. Were they to decorate a door. Unlike a wreath, the rain would spoil and soil it. Was it for the top of a Christmas Tree? Do people put bows on trees instead of angels and stars?

My eyes looked for some signs that the merchandise would have some Christian content. I only saw it in one corner – a beautiful child's nativity  with Mary, Joseph and the baby and a large star behind them. But the figures were fixed to their base. To come alive, the Holy Family  need to be freely and lovingly held by a child.

I haven’t been so aware of this idea that Christmas must be big – and the bigger the better. Paradoxically, Christmas is not about big but about  small. Right at the heart of it is the celebration of a baby’s birth. The baby is small, so small that he was laid in a manger.

And where did this take place but in little Bethlehem. ‘But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah,’ says Micah, ‘from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from old, from ancient days.’ Silence, stillness, insignificant, vulnerable, bonnie and almost unseen. Let small be  beautiful this Christmas.