Today marks the beginning of our seasonal event, the 14 days of ubu Christmas. This year the people we serve, ubu team members and others have got together to help make real our theme for this year, ‘Unite@Christmas’.
For many people, this season is defined by a whole host of different ideas and beliefs. This year at ubu we are thinking about unity, the things and experiences that share and we have in common. It means joining together, engaging with one another, sharing happiness and offering kindness wherever we can.
Our Christmas ‘Sparkle’ events have become a ubu tradition. Each year we look for ways to bring some happiness and sparkling light into the lives of people who need it in our local communities. Sometimes it might be a person or sometimes a group of people who have had to face a very difficult time recently and deserve a treat or it might be someone who has given up their time to helping others and deserves some recognition. The people we serve have nominated local people and groups they know to receive a gift from ubu.
This year, for our first ‘Sparkle’ event during ubu’s 14 Days of Christmas begins in the Harrogate area. The people we serve and ubu team members decided they wanted to help those who are left alone at Christmas, often without any chance to feel the spirit of the season most of us enjoy. “We made a donation on behalf of ubu to the Harrogate Homeless Shelter. Our donation will help to provide warm food and clothes for many homeless people who will be spending this December alone and cold.”
Another way to share the values we hold with such high regard in ubu has been through expressing them in traditional and not so traditional ways in our Christmas card competition.
We’ve looked at some incredibly creative and sparkling entries to our competition from every area the people we serve live. Everyone worked so hard and so creatively on their cards this year. There were so many fantastic and inventive entries that it was impossible to choose just one! So we decided to pick three. Congratulations go to David from the North East, Sylvia from North Yorkshire and Brenda from West Yorkshire for your amazing cards! They have really inspired us. But as you can see from our video below all the entries we had were brilliant.
On this first day of ubu Unite@Christmas we joined together at the Hub in Harrogate, enjoying the spirit of the season with great merriment, singing along to an old favourite song, ‘Last Christmas’, eating snowy cakes and drinking hot chocolate. It seems the season is truly upon us and the month has only just begun!
