Christmas cards have started arriving. I have good intentions each year, to write and send cards early, but inevitably ours go out at the last minute, if at all. I’m sure some years those I’ve sent haven’t arrived at their destination until the new year. Perhaps in that case I should just pretend they aren’t late, just very, very early.
I love the St. Paul’s Cathedral Christmas tree. I wonder about the logistics of getting a tree up there. Do they winch it up? Or do they haul it up the stairs and get it through the window? Probably something smarter than either of those suggestions. I like the sheer scale of the tree, but also how it is kind of homely too, like a grander version of the Christmas trees you see in people’s front windows.
A day spent heading up north and heading back. On my way home I realised I had spent practically the whole day inside train carriages and meeting rooms. I could have been anywhere and it could have been any time. I had lost any sense of place or season. When I arrived home I was greeted by a group of carol singers. It immediately felt like Christmas. It immediately felt like home.
Some tinsel has appeared behind my monitor at work. I’m not sure how I feel about this. I like Christmas. I like Christmas decorations. I’m perfectly fine with tinsel – I’m not fussed about keeping Christmas tasteful. However, I do have my reservations about organised fun. I’ll be the one to choose when I have fun, thank you very much. And my strip-lit, hermetically sealed office is never going to feel truly festive, no matter how much tinsel you throw at it. But then again, maybe the lack of tinsel is what makes it work somehow. I appreciate the lack of real effort. Just a bit of tinsel draped on a desk partition. It is a bit rubbish, like an office Christmas should be.
Wait until next year 