Last Christmas Quotes

“I realise now, the character in the Christmas story we should all aspire to be is the star in the sky that shines so brightly and hopefully – that someone else who is lost can find their way.”
― Greg Wise, Last Christmas: Memories of Christmases Past and Hopes of Future Ones

“At best, like a reforming Ebenezer Scrooge, we can undertake to keep Christmas in our hearts every day. Bless us all, everyone.”
― Greg Wise, Last Christmas: Memories of Christmases Past and Hopes of Future Ones

“The spirit of sweet friendship brightens all the year’,”
― Greg Wise, Last Christmas: Memories of Christmases Past and Hopes of Future Ones

“My years at the UN taught me that most people want the same things: safety, stability, work and a healthy and happy future for their children. It’s not too much to ask. Let’s strive to achieve that not just every Christmas but during all the religious festivals for those who believe, and throughout the year for those who don’t.”
― Greg Wise, Last Christmas: Memories of Christmases Past and Hopes of Future Ones

“Christmas is, of course, an important religious celebration for Christians but also a moment of reflection for others around the world, as one year draws to a close and another beckons.”
― Greg Wise, Last Christmas: Memories of Christmases Past and Hopes of Future Ones

“But the point of Christmas for me, that I learned as a child, is that it’s not about money – it’s about being surrounded by the people you love and who love you.”
― Greg Wise, Last Christmas: Memories of Christmases Past and Hopes of Future Ones

“Although Christmas will never lose its bittersweet edge for me, I also understand it is the time we see most clearly the things that really matter.”
― Greg Wise, Last Christmas: Memories of Christmases Past and Hopes of Future Ones

“my mother would make sure that some of the presents I received would be ‘from’ our pets, so that it felt like I was part of a wider community. As a result, I never believed in Father Christmas, but I did believe that my pet rabbit went shopping.”
― Greg Wise, Last Christmas: Memories of Christmases Past and Hopes of Future Ones

“without protracted preparation, there can be no spontaneous fun.”
― Greg Wise, Last Christmas: Memories of Christmases Past and Hopes of Future Ones

“The meaning of Christmas has always been about the kindling of hope in dark days, about the promise of peace and the hope that is delivered with the birth of each child. The weight of each child on the chest of our Mother Earth is our responsibility to nurture, care for and celebrate.”
― Greg Wise, Last Christmas: Memories of Christmases Past and Hopes of Future Ones

“As a child, I loved that special seasonal magic – gold and silver tinsel, baubles catching the light of a candle, a distant ‘ho-ho-ho’, and the feeling that normal life could be suspended for a few days.”
― Greg Wise, Last Christmas: Memories of Christmases Past and Hopes of Future Ones

“The meaning of Christmas has always been about the kindling of hope in dark days, about the promise of peace and the hope that is delivered with the birth of each child. The weight of each child on the chest of our Mother Earth is our responsibility to nurture, care for and celebrate. It is a gift to be reminded of that by a Christmas lullaby, and not just at Christmas, but on a fragrant spring day as well.”
― Greg Wise, Last Christmas: Memories of Christmases Past and Hopes of Future Ones

“But looking back, what I do remember is not what I was bought, but who I was with, and how lucky I felt to be surrounded with love. That’s it really, like all the songs say – that’s what anyone really needs. It’s free, the more you give the more you get back, it has nothing to do with skin, colour or religion and I’m told it’s available all year round.”
― Greg Wise, Last Christmas: Memories of Christmases Past and Hopes of Future Ones

“My parents put the witchy-finger incident into perspective for me – this was proof that Christmas wasn’t about the presents. The real gift of Christmas was that we all got to be together, see friends and neighbours, remember and include those without family or company and enjoy that most precious of gifts – time. And the short version of that was we can’t afford XYZ so please don’t ask.”
― Greg Wise, Last Christmas: Memories of Christmases Past and Hopes of Future Ones

“When I set out to write about Christmas, I thought that these things are what it meant to me. However, I discovered something beyond all of that, something much more deeply personal. Christmas to me is family. It is home. It is my mother.”
― Greg Wise, Last Christmas: Memories of Christmases Past and Hopes of Future Ones

“Christmas is the cultural event that brings us together, and that helps us, as Palestinians, connect to our roots, the roots of the Holy Land. It is a religious event for those who celebrate it religiously, a cultural one for those who don’t. It is a political statement when we defy the checkpoints and roadblocks to reach family or Bethlehem for Christmas Day celebrations.”
― Greg Wise, Last Christmas: Memories of Christmases Past and Hopes of Future Ones

“At a time of so much distressing news from near and far, in an age when religion is distorted by extremists to divide and destroy, perhaps we all need excuses, and occasions, to savour cherished rituals of faith, family and friendship.”
― Greg Wise, Last Christmas: Memories of Christmases Past and Hopes of Future Ones

“I know now that Christmas is a time to be together as a family, and a time to reaffirm our unconditional love for each other. It doesn’t have to be with the family you are born into. I have learned you create your family anew and by choice along the way on life’s journey. I still see Christmas through the eyes of that little girl who was bedazzled by the Advent calendar. But now I give her permission to walk through each and every door and to celebrate each day fully and completely. After all, it is a time to dream and believe in the unbelievable.”
― Greg Wise, Last Christmas: Memories of Christmases Past and Hopes of Future Ones

“Christmas is a great opportunity to tap into feelings of goodwill towards others, and I think many of us want to hold on to those feelings all year round.”
― Greg Wise, Last Christmas: Memories of Christmases Past and Hopes of Future Ones

“Christmas for me is not a time for presents, but a time for a genuine desire for goodness to flood the world and wash away its pains.”
― Greg Wise, Last Christmas: Memories of Christmases Past and Hopes of Future Ones

“For me, Christmas is about compassion and caring for people who are a lot less fortunate than the rest of us.”
― Greg Wise, Last Christmas: Memories of Christmases Past and Hopes of Future Ones

“Everybody has their own vision of what a perfect Christmas should be. For some, it’s just about having a roof over one’s head. Ideally, we should not need Crisis at Christmas. Everyone should have a place to call home.”
― Greg Wise, Last Christmas: Memories of Christmases Past and Hopes of Future Ones

“Christmas can embody the stark reality of one’s life – ‘My longest, loneliest days are during the Christmas period’. For those who have escaped persecution in another country, the pain of loss cannot be forgotten – ‘thoughts of Christmas being a family day return, I drown in sorrow and tears begin to roll down my cheeks’. For the homeless on our own streets – ‘Many guests walk in hunched up, cold, hungry and frightened. The centres allow our guests to step off the treadmill, sit down and re-evaluate their lives. When they leave, they look taller, smarter and their backs are straighter. They’ve had a haircut and had their nails cleaned. They feel ready to take on the world again.’ It’s about the Care – to bring someone to a place where ‘it had taken almost fifty years but at last I truly understood what Christmas was all about’. It’s about Hope – that we can end people sleeping on the streets; to be able to spend ‘quality time with my family, being clean and sober and being able to enjoy and remember it’. It’s about LOVE – ‘It’s free, the more you give the more you get back . . . and I’m told it’s available all year round.’ That’s the thrust of all these writings – that the care, the hope, the love alongside all the fun, the family, the connection, the giving-and-receiving don’t need to be saved up for just one day of the year, but can be spread across the remaining 364 days.”
― Greg Wise, Last Christmas: Memories of Christmases Past and Hopes of Future Ones

“Christmas challenges each of us . . . to refuse to be ruled by fear and tribalism, to reach out and connect to those who are not like us and to give up our power, privilege and position.”
― Greg Wise, Last Christmas: Memories of Christmases Past and Hopes of Future Ones