In a special Christmas message to readers of The Press, the Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu urges people to remember the most generous gift ever.

As I write this Christmas message to you, I wonder if you are really ready for Christmas? Is the supermarket shopping done? Have you already neatly wrapped and labelled for your gifts and delivered them to your friends and families?

Or perhaps you have left everything to the last minute and are about to buy everything you can in sight. If you are… STOP!!!

We are about to celebrate the most generous gift ever – God’s gift to us of his own Son, the child born in Bethlehem. No money changed hands for this gift to be given, or for this gift to be received. It was pure undeserved, unmerited goodness – and it costs us nothing to receive it.

Christmas should not be about what you spend, or what you get. It should not be about how much you earn, or how much you have to borrow to have a good time. Across the UK, many thousands face redundancy and for those who have been unemployed for more than a year, Christmas especially is a deeply stressful time. It is very tempting to buy gifts on credit cards in the pursuit of a perfect Christmas.

It is all too easy to adopt a mindset of “it’ll be okay – I can pay it off at a later date”. Every year, we try to create the perfect Christmas, but there is often a huge gap between what we dream we can do and what we actually achieve.

Please try to shop with a sense of proportion. It is wonderful to show love to people by giving presents, but it’s not the size or monetary value of the present that counts. Jesus’ birth was foretold by the prophets, not profits! Remember it is small things that can make a difference. Love, care, compassion.

My message is don’t worry about achieving the perfect Christmas – Jesus will do that for you. May the Light and Life of the Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace be with you this Christmas until the end of time. God loves you and thinks you are a wonderful creation. Never forget that. Have a great Christmas and a wonderful New Year.