THE beginning of the Christmas season is always marked for me by the annual tradition of an early morning start at the Salmon Springs Royal Mail sorting office.

I do this every year in order to thank all the post office staff for all they do at this particularly busy time.

The number of cards and, increasingly, parcels to deliver is, quite frankly, incredible so all of us should appreciate the work they do.

The run up to Christmas is also marked by a number of celebrations. In Parliament, I was delighted to attend the Cub Scouts Centenary Reception in Parliament.

It was a pleasure to meet the Cub Scouts attending from Randwick and it is always heartening to see so many young people engaged and interested in our country’s Parliament.

Wearing my Education Select Committee chair’s hat, promoting ‘life skills’ can be accomplished in many different ways and being a Scout is definitely one of them.

I am looking forward to spending some quality time with my children who will all be returning from their first term away from home at University.

Some people are less fortunate so our thoughts should also be with those who might be alone or in difficult circumstances.

We will be eating potatoes – King Edwards – grown in our garden and the key elements of a Christmas lunch, including the turkey and ingredients for the stuffing, will be sourced locally.

Just like the delivery of all our post, Christmas makes additional demands on many other services we depend on, including the NHS, police service and fire service. We should thank them all.

Whatever plans you have, I hope they work well and enable you to properly celebrate Christmas, and best wishes for the New Year.