By Nicholas Baldry

{Source: Hideya HAMANO}

It is highly likely that you are getting ready for Christmas just now. I know I am. Despite being an atheist I'm, frankly, very willing to get involved in any festival that revolves around eating vast quantities of food. Heck, I'm not American either, but come Thanksgiving I can be found shoveling vast amounts of turkey into my face like a castaway who has happened to drift ashore on the fourth Thursday in November after months at sea.

If you do celebrate Christmas, in all likelihood Christmas dinner is one of the most luxurious meals you will eat all year. You make an effort with what goes on your table. No oven ready pizza for you this festive day. Some quality meat; a gargantuan turkey, maybe a beautifully glazed ham, perhaps a gloriously marbled bit of beef or if you are of the vegetarian persuasion then a nut roast prepared in a creative manner designed to make you not miss the other stuff.

It's not just main dishes. Tables groan under the weight of mountains of sides. Desserts are piled so high you can hardly see your elderly grandmother on the other side of the table. Chocolates – yes, I know you said you'd only have one but it's mid morning and half the box is gone, how did that happen? Good wine, of course. Luxury! Luxury! And more luxury!

By the time you've troughed through this gastronomic orgy, no doubt you'll be feeling more than a little corpulent and perhaps a little thirsty. You will most likely waddle over to the faucet for a glass of water. And there it is. The greatest luxury on your Christmas dinner table. Looking innocuous among the shredded remains of the feast is a glass of clean, refreshing water, one that you can refill at any time. It's not just a Christmas miracle, it's something we look upon as a right, not the privilege it really is.

So if you too wind up eating the shame- inducing quantities I intend to eat, please think of those who do not experience feasts like Christmas or even clean water to drink. So this holiday season, please give the gift of clean water. Happy Holidays!