Do you celebrate Christmas?. Hope you had a good one. The celebrations and the feasting and the making of merry. Families and friends spending time together. Exchanging of gifts and sharing of good times. A season of goodwill to all men.

In one or two days this will all be history. The shops will clear away the decorations and the season's stock and people will take down their trees and the millions of cards that adorn their living rooms. Until next year.

So today you have probably been out for a walk, to burn off some of that good living. Maybe you even popped into the pub to witness champions Chelsea(!) held to a draw by Reading. Now that you are back indoors perhaps you're cradling a small glass of something nice. Why should I bore you with stuff that you've heard many times before. Why do I come in and invade your space in the final hours of boxing day? Will you listen while I ask you whether you know the true meaning of Christmas?

The commercialisation and secularisation of Christmas today means that it is simply an excuse to over-indulge in high consumption. Thousands of cows, goats, sheep and chicken were summarily dispatched to provide too much food. Litres of beers, spirits, wines and childrens' fizzy drinks have flowed like the mighty Niger providing too much to drink... but never mind that - we resolve to go on a diet in January. We have spent far more than we could afford to impress guests who we loathe, but no matter - we will surely resolve to straighten our finances in January. That's together with our other resolutions to kick the foul habits of smoking, booze, drugs, cheating on our partner or cruising on K-street.

Talking to friends or reading from these great pages of Kenyaimagine I cannot help but feel that we have lost the plot. The political and social views espoused by many today are symptomatic of people suffering acute and highly contagious cynicism. Still there may be hope. We are all aware that without the basic infrastructure we are nothing. The house needs a foundation. Those of you who were raised in a strong Christian tradition and learnt from the teachings of Christ were lucky to have been provided with all the tools necessary to build a solid foundation. Given the tools and free will it is up to us to design the actual house.

So why are we so cynical? Look at the views that we hold today on politics, leadership, global hunger, poverty, the environment, the economy, corruption, women priests, gay marriage, abortion, human rights, the equality of men, or euthanasia? Are these more important than providing the next generations with the same basic grounding that we all had?

"......The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom......"

Why not make a choice today, why not go and tell the children about the true meaning of Christmas.