I’ve never celebrated Christmas, but there is something special about the day

I’d never wanted to backpack – I like communal celebrations, not communal bathrooms – but I remember longing to be a backpacker, just for that day. The delight of all those expats dancing on the beach was seriously contagious. I loved the sea of red and green Santa hats, and the sparkly bikinis, and the music blasting from speakers. I was exhilarated by the holiday spirit, even if it wasn’t strictly my holiday.

In recent years, I’ve spent Christmas Day with my parents and kids on the NSW Central Coast. It is far more sedate than on Bondi Beach (though admittedly, this is quite a low bar). Still, even there, Christmas Day feels different to any other day of the year.

There’s a thrum in the air, a sense of anticipation in the streets. There are wreaths on the doors and inflatable Santas in the front yards. When I go for a walk in the afternoon, everybody smiles and waves and wishes me a very merry Christmas. It feels warm and relaxed and festive and upbeat. There are an awful lot of reindeer hats.

Christmas is supposed to come but once a year, but this year might be the exception to the rule. There was that same warmth and happiness, that same hum of excitement, on the weekend when the long lockdown finally lifted. There was a collective raising of spirits, a sense of levity and joy. We’d all been in it together, and we were all out of it together, and we took to the streets to celebrate. The vaccines were our Santa, QR readers our galloping reindeer, and masks our red and green hats.

Christmas 2021 will be the icing on the freedom cake, or the plum in the pudding, or the bow on the gift. We always deserve to celebrate the good stuff, but in this hugely challenging year we deserve it even more. We have finally come to the light at the end of the tunnel. We deserve tinsel and joy, and a bloody medal.

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And so, on this Christmas Day, I will be celebrating with you. As you eat your turkey lunch, and exchange gifts, and squabble with relatives, I will be hanging with my family, revelling in our precious freedoms and contemplating just how far we have all come. (And, for what it’s worth, I am still extremely keen to experience a real-life Christmas lunch. If anyone’s interested, I will swap you a Passover dinner for a day gathered around the tree with your family. Let’s get all interfaith here, people! I’ll even bring a cake.)

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