It’s a stressful time for adults thinking about the festivities this year. But what do the kids think?
“Father Christmas has been vassilated,” asserts six-year-old Alexandra. “My dad told me he has been vassilated so he can’t get the virus from corona. So he can come to my house this Christmas!”
Alexandra’s dad is right: according to the UK’s deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, Father Christmas has indeed been vaccinated. Speaking to the public at the start of the month, the Professor affirmed that “the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation made a very special case for Father Christmas and he is going to be absolutely at the top of our list.” And this year, even Santa’s elves have come up in parliamentary discussions – apparently they too were among the first to receive the Covid-19 vaccine, in that they’re considered ‘key workers’!
It’s news which has been greeted with great relief by the youngest members of society. Because at a time when most of us are worrying about how many people will be allowed at the Christmas lunch, and whether it’s safe to go to Jumbo, our kids are concerned with seasonal matters of their own; matters which are, of course, no less weighty. Here’s what the kids are thinking about this Christmas…
“My cousins always come to our house for Christmas,” says seven-year-old Michael. “But this year they can’t come because it will be too many people. We have a big house with a big garden and a trampoline and we play on it together all day. But they have a small house, it is a flat actually, and they don’t have a garden or a trampoline. So we bought them a small trampoline for a present. And on Christmas we can video each other and bounce together! And then we will be happy.”
Making other people happy this Christmas is, surprisingly, important to many of the children we spoke to. At a time when you’d expect the kiddies to be looking forward to their own presents, many were actually thinking about those who were a little less fortunate.
“We have been making toy boxes for children without toys,” says nine-year-old Deborah. “My mum and I saw a project on Facebook about children who won’t be able to get presents this Christmas because maybe their families don’t have enough money because corona means they have no work. So we cleared out my old toys, and we asked my friends, and we have made six boxes of toys. And we decorated them too – we wrapped them and put tinsel on them, and I drew pictures. It makes me happy to help other people.”
Our youngest interviewee is also spreading the seasonal love. “My brother is very small,” says five-and-a-quarter year old George, who believes it’s important to note that he will be “five-and-a-half very soon, but my brother is not even one yet! He is so small he doesn’t understand Christmas, and he doesn’t know about Santa. But I have been making him a Christmas stocking anyway, because even if he doesn’t know about Santa, I think Santa knows about him.”
Using felt and stickers and – according to his mother – “lots and lots of glitter; it’s everywhere!”, George has made a “blue and yellow stocking because my brother likes APOEL too” and is waiting to see what Father Christmas brings his baby brother. He’s not the only one thinking about babies at this time of year…
“Christmas is important because it was when the baby Jesus was born, and we celebrate that,” says nine-year-old Emilia. “My sister and I drew a nativity scene and we put it on our fridge. She drew the baby Jesus; it’s actually quite good – you can tell it’s a baby right away. I drew most of the animals,” she adds. “I drew a sheep and a goat and a cow, and I also drew a mouflon because maybe there was a mouflon there too.”
Emilia and her family are used to going to church every Sunday, and the girls have been missing their visits over the last few months. “We can’t go to church,” Emilia explains, “because you can’t have many people in one place because they might get ill from one another and we have to protect each other. But we have been watching church on the computer; that’s what we will do on Christmas too. I will miss seeing my friends at Sunday School, but I hope we can all see each other again next year.”
Missing people is a big concern for many youngsters, especially at a time of year that’s normally all about friends and family. Eight-year-old Benjamin is “sad that I can’t see my grandparents. They live in England,” he says, “and usually they come to see me at Christmas. But because of the corona they can’t come this year. And I can’t go to see them, even though I am younger and it is safer for me.”
Instead, Benjamin will be speaking to his grandparents on Skype this year, and is looking forward to opening the presents they have sent. “They sent me three presents,” he says in excitement. “My Mum got them from the post office last week and she put them under the tree and she told me not to look, but I read the card and they are for me! I think one is a game,” he whispers, “because it makes a noise. And one is definitely books, because I can feel where the pages go in. I don’t know what the other one is. It’s a funny shape. Maybe it’s a toy?”
As for Alexandra, well one can only hope that Father Christmas makes it safely down her chimney in the year of corona! He should be alright, shouldn’t he? After all, he’s was amongst the first of us to be thoroughly ‘vassilated’!
Find out more about how your family can donate old toys to children in need this Christmas at https://cyprus-mail.com/2020/12/05/call-for-donations-so-no-child-goes-without-a-gift/
