Boy, are we feeling good about ourselves this Yuletide. While the rest of Europe is watching its wallet closely, we in Ireland are getting ready to spend over €4 billion between now and the New Year.

The Celtic Tiger hasn’t gone away, economic growth remains high, interest rates and inflation are low and full employment is within our grasp. If you add in the feel-good factor of people reaping the benefits of their SSIAs next year, plus the impressive fact that Ireland is currently the fourth richest nation on earth (according to IMF figures), it’s not surprising we will be redistributing our wealth to every department store and shopping centre in the country from now until the start of January.

So, in the run-up to the biggest ever consumer frenzy Ireland has ever seen, it is pertinent to ask: are we more interested in shopping than our souls? When did Christ disappear from Christmas? And does the most important date in the Christian calendar mean anything to anyone anymore?

Christmas is for believers. When we were children, this time of the year was special for us because we were told if we were good boys and girls, a magical man with a long white beard and red coat would fly from Lapland with his sleigh and reindeers and drop presents down our chimneys.

When we stopped believing in Santa Claus, Jesus Christ became a significant part of our lives. Here was another magical man with a beard who, we were told, would save us all from burning forever in the fires of Hell, but only if we followed His way and went to mass every Sunday. If we did this, then we would all go to Heaven and every day would be like Christmas.

And that seemed magical too– but only for a while. By our teenage years, scepticism had replaced innocence and we were suddenly asking questions our parents couldn’t answer and some of us began to drift away from the Church never to return.

It seems nowadays people need reminding that Christmas is a religious event and not a pagan festival of shopping, drinking and eating. Some of us don’t really have the time to consider the significance of this time of the year and the true meaning of Christmas is beginning to get lost in an increasingly secular society.

Christmas day represents the birth of all the good in the world. The birth of the Son of God is an allegory, written down in the scriptures thousands of years ago as a guide for people to live a good, virtuous life.

If you consider other major religions of the world like Buddhism or Islam, both had a Christ-like figure that taught the values of purity, tolerance and respect. If Jesus Christ didn’t exist, it would be necessary to invent him, because he remains the perfect role model to guide us mortal beings through the travails and tragedies of life.

Jesus represents for me the birth of good in the world. The word God, came from good, and God is the positive life force in all of mankind, which has sustained life and well-being on earth for the past 2,000 years or more. We are all part of God and there’s God in all of us, which is why it is important to remember this at Christmas and celebrate the good virtues in us all.

So when you are spending all that money on loved ones this year, let’s not forget the people less fortunate than ourselves at home and abroad. It’s good to give– that’s what Christmas is all about.