Christmas is a shot of uncomplicated joy | Simon Jenkins

This break from the harsh rhythm of life offers an interlude when contact is re-established with neighbours, home and hearth

My Christmas favourite is Christmas itself, its lit streets and decorated homes; its food, songs and music. For me it holds no religious import, but only the most hardened cynics could turn their back on this annual celebration of happiness. Christmas is the world's one moment of licensed pleasure, when custom requires us to behave, however briefly, as sociable human...