“A white moon appears like a hole in the sky”
Bye Bye Pride, The Go-Betweens
I leave home and it still feels like night. The moon looms large. I make my way towards the station, and towards the moon. There are a few other people on the street, but nobody seems startled by the size of the shape in the sky. Read the rest of this entry »
This is a season governed by custom. So I like how Christmas Eve feels far more personal – we all have our own routines rather than feeling bound by tradition.
We took an evening walk around our local streets, enjoying the lights and displays. As much as I love the insularity of Christmas, of holing up away from the world, I think it is also good to feel part of something bigger and engage in that world a little.
It was wonderful to share a moment like this with loved ones. I know I am exceptionally lucky.
I would happily eat mince pies all year round. I’m considering stockpiling them to make that possible.
Or perhaps I should just learn how to bake them.
Or accept that the value is in the scarcity, like all good things.
Christmas shopping is fine, it’s the wrapping that is exhausting. Only now do I have a grudging admiration for those people who have everything bought and wrapped by mid-September.
I should have probably soundtracked the evening with carols or Christmas songs, but went for the old miserable songs of my younger days. I’m certainly a lot happier these days, even if everything gets more complicated the older you get.
And like all good mundane tasks the wrapping gave me some space to think, to consider the year. I’m still none the wiser, to be honest. But it never hurts to have a little mull now and then. Better to mull the year than the wine, I say.
Wait until next year 