A Lost Season

Hello and thank you for being so patient.  I have been a bit rubbish, haven't I?  I suppose I was over-ambitious beginning a blog in December, there would be so much to write about and share, but I was completely overtaken by events and there was no time.  Lesson learned: next December I shall be better prepared.

So what has happened to the season of Advent?  I LOVE Advent, the countdown, the increasing sense of expectation and excitement.  I always have an advent calendar, not a chocolate one but an old-fashioned one with pictures behind the doors and lots of glitter.  It's not that I don't like chocolate, but that I do love those pictures and the plastic tray in the chocolate ones obscures them.  I like to have an advent candle, too.  But this year I decided that I couldn't justify the expense and thought I would do without.  I didn't realise how miserable that would make me!  So on 6th December when I saw advent calendars and candles reduced to half price, I bought one of each and harmony was restored.  Missing out on the first five days didn't matter as I saved £3.50 and every penny counts round here.

So, what HAS happened to the season of Advent?  I thought it was the time to prepare for the celebration of Christmas, mentally and physically, but while I was preparing and reflecting everyone else seemed to be out there celebrating already.  A friend commented that she had never known so many people to put their Christmas trees up at the beginning of December (we put ours up the weekend before Christmas).  Then when Christmas came I was ready to party for the full twelve days and as soon as Boxing Day was over, everyone else was taking down their decorations!  And although I really do enjoy those lazy, quiet days between Christmas and New Year, I still want to celebrate and kick up my heels a bit in the evenings.  So in this house, the decorations are still up and we are still watching Disney films and singing along with Michael Buble.

Of course, there is plenty of reading going on.  Mr March has come home to his wife and daughters and the whole family is together again, celebrating Christmas.  I enjoyed revisiting Little Women and, as I remembered, I am Jo, or at least, my younger self was Jo, but I had forgotten what a religious little book it is.  I have moved on to Good Wives now, Meg has married John Brooke and had the twins and Oh Dear!  I know what's coming. 

I'll report back soon.  In the meantime, have a good weekend and continue to celebrate Christmas - the twelfth day is 5th January so my decorations will be up for at least another three days.  Technically, tradition says that they can be left up until 1st February and then taken down for Candlemas, but although I would like that, the Best Beloved has put his foot down so I need to make the most of them before Tuesday.

 

Love, Mrs Tiggywinkle x