In this my first Christmas message as Premier of Bermuda I am pleased to share in the joys of this Festive Season with all of you.Above all else Christmas is the time to reflect on the mystery of the birth of Jesus Christ and what that event over 2000 years ago has come to mean to the world.

However you celebrate this holiday it is a time for us to put aside many of the things that pre-occupy our daily lives and to pause and savour those things which we so often take for granted. There is nothing like the excitement of seeing family and friends together in a spirit of love and harmony.

As you pass time toAs you pass time together over this Christmas season I urge you to commit to re-establishing the family unit as the core of our beautiful Island home.

Too often we are caught-up by the commercial element of this Season and lose sight of what we should hold dear to our hearts and that is the fact that it is a time of rejoicing and one of unity.

Personally, I am blessed to enjoy a loving family and I look forward to spending some wonderful times with them over this Christmas season.

My wife Wanda and I are looking forward to spending some quality time with loved ones and friends.

However often, there are those among us who are unable to share in the blessings and fellowship of the yuletide season.

We must reach out to them and, in our unique way show them we love and care for them.

Buy an extra present, set an extra place setting, or, with a raised voice, simply wish everyone you see a happy and healthy holiday season.

Individual acts of kindness, large or small, will go a long way toward making this holiday a blessed one for everybody.

Wanda and I love Bermuda and her people and among those things we wish to encourage not just at Christmas but throughout the year is the sharing of traditions and customs unique to us with the younger generation.

Ours is a rich culture and to preserve our heritage we must ensure that we raise a generation of young people who know it, respect it and understand that it is for them to pass on in time. During this year of 2006 Bermuda has enjoyed a revived tourism industry, continued economic success and with the exception of Hurricane Florence we have come through virtually unscathed.

We are entering a period of exciting development as far as our hotel sector is concerned and I look forward to working even harder at improving the Bermuda product as the next phase in the revitalisation of our tourism.

Two-thousand and seven promises to be an even better year for Bermuda. Early in the year I will assist in the opening of the St. George’s Rest Home, a facility designed to offer a wide variety of care to those seniors in need.

I will be working with the Minister of Finance and my cabinet colleagues to provide another prudent and people-centred budget for Bermuda.

I promised a hard-working government and 2007 will be a year of action for us. The temptation to make resolutions at this time of year is inevitable. If you must resolve to do anything, join with me in making this coming year a year of harmony, one of honesty in our discourse and a year, above all, in which we do our best for Bermuda. Thank you and best wishes for a safe and happy Christmas Season.

Re-establish family unit