Christmas Day again? Blimey. Not that we’re complaining, mind. It is one of the cosiest, tastiest, laziest and not-being-frowned-upon-for-having-beer-before-lunch-iest days of the year for many people. Cheers!
We have been putting out a Christmas message since 2008 and every year has been filled with memorable events that have drawn readers to IceNews to find out more. As is the way with news, most of the events have been sad, scary or otherwise pretty serious in some way.
Collapsing banks, volcanoes, the dreaded Icesave – all have dominated our news at some point. This year was no exception and another volcano in Iceland blew its top; but as it didn’t ground planes or kill anyone (thankfully), it was rightly a short-lived story. That despite the fact it was actually ten times bigger than the Eyjafjallajökull eruption of 2010. The difference was that Grímsvötn produced plane-friendly ash, apparently.
Probably the biggest story we covered this year in any great detail was the disturbing bomb and shooting massacre perpetrated by Anders Behring Breivik in Norway. But as Norwegian media have been asked to give victims’ families a break and lay off the coverage over Christmas, we will gladly oblige and say no more about it here.
On a lighter note, the year has been sprinkled with surprising, heart-warming, inspiring or outright weird stories which easily draw attention away from the negative stuff for a time (actually there was plenty more weird than that: here, here, here, here and here, for example).
And that is pretty much what Christmas does as well: it distracts from the negative and pressures us into being happy, sociable and, well, nice. Some people hate that, while others love it. But put it this way: wouldn’t we all rather have fake joy and happiness than the cold reality sometimes? And who knows, if we let ourselves be fooled into believing it, it might just become real.
That, as with every year, is the real wish of this Christmas message: that today and the entire next year will be peaceful, healthy and genuinely enjoyable for all of us. The place to start is on a personal level and the time to start is now!
From all of the IceNews team we wish you a Merry Christmas and a fantastic 2012, wherever you are; and we thank you sincerely for visiting us this year. Please continue to do so!