Even without any snow or even a little frost our village looked very pretty this morning. I looked out over the garden and across the lane,not one single jogger,cyclist or dog walker was to be seen but there was plenty going on. In the front garden an orderly queue of blue tits had formed upon a low branch above the bird bath and these polite little birds took turns to bathe in spite of the chilly morning air.
Our tame robin darted from one large rosemary bush to another shouting a warning as it spotted the cat Diamonds stalking beside the hedge, on the fence the hen blackbird, resplendent in her sables watched as the male rummaged for worms in the dormant flower borders. So much life and all oblivious to the significance of the day.
I snuggled back in bed for and hour remembering all the times when as a child my son would get up at four on Christmas day bursting with excitement and longing to open his presents. Pa and I would be exhausted by lunch time but it was worth everything to watch our beautiful child filled with the excitement of Christmas.
Soon the bell-ringers began their Christmas peal so long rehearsed and of course perfect on the day. The lane began to fill with people heading to the church and my son awoke sleepy and heaping calumnies upon the heads of the campanologists. We had coffee together and watched “Wind In the Willows” the film this time. I love it so much especially the part where Mole is homesick and he and Ratty go in search of Mole End. Years ago when I first lived away from home I was quite unable to read this part of my favourite book for fear of the floods of tears that my own acute homesickness would produce. I longed for home so much that it took the form of actual physical pain and I understood Moles dilemma completely.
I vividly remember being totally overcome while listening to a friend rehearsing his audition piece. It was Shakespeare’s “How Like a Winter Hath Mine Absence Been ,recited to the strains of Dvorák’s New World Symphony. I was never so miserable in the whole of my life.
Now safe with my own family it all seems a long time ago and yet even now I still miss my childhood home at Christmas the smell of wood smoke from the great fire in the parlour lit in honour of the day and of course my Father and Grand parents long since gone.
I baked our bread and some for our neighbours and then we opened our gifts ,lovely gifts some unexpected, some eagerly anticipated,all welcome. We hugged a lot, laughed a lot and even cried a little. Even Twiggy was not forgotten and received two large tins on Kookamonga, an extremely potent form of cat nip!
After breakfast we cleared the kitchen table and played games of cards and Ludo, ate too much chocolate and drank home made liqueurs,then each of us spent an hour in their own room finding homes for our new acquisitions. I have a new throw for my bed of the softest shiniest faux fur which will keep me snug all winter long. I was given some lovely scarves and some very pretty jewellery, Pa had lots of railway books, DVDs and railway bits and pieces and our son the usual mass of books,computer games and some new togs.
All after noon the lane was busy with children trying out their new bicycles, scooters,skate boards and roller-skates. Tiny little girls proudly pushed tiny little prams while small boys ambushed each other with what appeared to be some kind of guns. There was even a young man flying a model helicopter in the park, I should have loved to have had a go.
As darkness fell we sat down to our Christmas dinner of cold ham,turkey, assorted cheeses, fresh bread,pate and toast, pork pie and salad. It was an occasion to open the home made chutneys and the fruit jellies which are such a wonderful accompaniment to cold meats.
We broached the Christmas cake and pulled crackers and I was jolly glad not to have any cooking to do for a change. .
The lane is dark now, just a low light from the street lamps, few cars and fewer people.
The darkness of midwinter has settled like a cloak over the field and trees,until only small specks of light showed where there are people just like ourselves enjoying their Christmas day.
I thank my Gods for another Christmas with us all together and I pray that nothing changes in the coming year.
I hope that you have had a Merry Christmas, in whatever way you celebrate it and if you are away from those you love I hope that another year will bring you back to them or they to you.
My love to all. X
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