WELL, folks, it’s Christmas week. After weeks of present wrapping, card sending, carol singing, and negotiating with truculent relatives, the big day has happened.

My family and I were getting in the mood by carol singing and watching Christmas films, and in particular the greatest of all Christmas films, The Muppet Christmas Carol. This year, though, as I watched it for the 1,000th time, a particular line struck me anew. As Ebenezer Scrooge’s redemption reaches completion, he pledges to the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come, “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.” But how do we keep Christmas all the year?

Shall we have a turkey dinner every day? Can each day have its own advent calendar, with 24 little chocolates to eat? (My toddler would say yes.) Or should we give presents and cards every day of the year? Tempting, but hardly sustainable.

Instead, Scrooge’s pledge is to keep the spirit of Christmas all the year; a spirit of peace on Earth, and goodwill to all humanity. To think the best of one another, especially those we disagree with, assuming good faith and good intentions of all. To greet all those we meet with thankfulness and love, being generous without counting the cost. And, of course, when he does, Scrooge’s life is transformed.

These lessons that Scrooge learned from the spirits in Dickens’ masterwork are the same lessons that Jesus came to Earth to teach us. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; rejoice always, give thanks in all circumstances; feed the hungry, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger into your home. At Christmas we think of Jesus as the tiny baby in the manger, but while babies are demanding on our time, our energy, our emotions, they do not demand we live an ethical life. And so the temptation is to forget his message, even as we coo over adorable children in Nativity plays, gathered round the silent manger.

Instead, may we, like the redeemed Scrooge, keep the spirit of Christmas together, with Christ firmly at the heart of it. May we show love to one another not just while the trees and tinsel last, but all the year round.

And as Tiny Tim would say: God bless us, everyone.