Christmas may not be a time of joy for everyone

T'S that time of year again - getting decorations down from the loft, buying gifts, planning the shopping, and putting everything in place for the Christmas season.

- ■Rev Clive Foster MBE is senior minister at the Pilgrim Church Charitable Trust and the UK's first Windrush Commissioner

We prepare for excitement, tradition, and nostalgia. We prepare to finish off those last work chores, prepare to stop doing things for a while, prepare to catch up with family and friends - prepare, in short, for some much-needed downtime.

But for some, Christmas preparations take on a different tone. It may be the first Christmas without a loved one, a broken relationship may leave an empty seat at the table, or a life-changing health condition may cast a long shadow. These realities remind us that while Christmas brings joy for many, it also magnifies pain for others.