ONE of the things that I love to do over Christmas is catch up with good friends, ideally over a cheeky ale or two.

There’s a couple of mates that I catch up with, and we run through our albums of the year (I’m a bloke, I love lists).

At Christmas, of course, we think about gifts and one of the greatest gifts that God gives us is our friends.

One of the essentials of life is friendship, to be with people who understand us, care for us, support us and that we can just simply have fun with!

Jesus’ closest followers weren’t just people who believed in him but they were his friends, his mates.

Jesus knew the vital importance of friendship. Similarly, one of the best gifts that we can give to someone this Christmas is our friendship.

For many people, for many reasons, Christmas can be a lonely time.

So wherever we have the opportunity, let us reach out to people and offer them the gift of our friendship.