The quietest of the festive moments: picking lovely, shiny holly on Christmas Eve.
Christmas lights on boats at the harbour.
Scaring seagulls early in the morning at the beach. Always festive.
I hope you’re enjoying some good moments too, festive or otherwise!
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The Performance: sometimes going home for Christmas is just one huge performance…
When Ariel returns home from dance college, her mother expects her to perform the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy in a pink, sequined tutu in front of many, many party guests. Ariel adjusts the costume and choreography to expose dark truths about her life, but, as it turns out, this is not the biggest performance of the night…
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Happy Christmas Alisha, thanks for your photos, books and comments throughout the year. We wish you a Good New Year with good health and God’s blessing!
Thank you so much, Matthew. All good wishes to you too 🙂
In 1970, my first year in Scotland that involved school, my parents bought me a duffel coat for Christmas. I wasn’t thrilled. Three long, raw Scottish winters changed my mind.
I have learned to like people, in general, but I’ve always been a little melancholy, a bit introspective. It felt romantic, like “Me and Me against the world” even though it wasn’t, really. My big black coat let me be free to wander the glen and the rocky beach along the Clyde, as well as making me late for supper far too often for my mother’s liking. After a few trips to the chip shop, one of my assigned household duties and the one we all looked forward to the most, it smelled like fish and chips all the time. Fish and chips for seven, you know.
There’s my wee Scots Christmas tale. The pain of its memory is alive and sweetly stinging. The pebbles from my pockets still live in a jar on my mother’s windowsill.
Thanks for posting this. I hope my comment wasn’t overly intrusive. I missed this Christmas, so let’s get started on a good one for next year. Merry Christmas, Ailish, and a beautiful, magickal new year.
That’s quite the evocative story, Kenny! Good old duffel coats. I had one too!
Beautiful photos as always. Wish I’d had a peaceful moment yesterday but it was too packed! I love the idea of chasing the seagulls on the beach – I used to do that as a kid!
No seagulls were chased in the making of this blog post. My mere presence on the beach frightened them 😀
Wonderful, Ailish! I hope you had a Merry Christmas and will have a great New Year.
You too, Tim 🙂
Beautiful beach photo. So serene:) Than you for sharing.
I’m glad you liked it 🙂
I have very fond memories of venturing into a small English woods with my mother to gather holly and ivy. (Neither of us are British, and it felt a magical, ancestral thing to do.)
It was so good to read in your newsletter that you are staying well and writing often! Thank you for sharing that news, those beautiful photos, and this lovely meditation.
Wishing you abundant good health, and growing light.
P.S. I’m looking forward to ordering another of your books in the New Year!
What a lovely memory to have with your mother, Gemma. All good wishes to you too, and I hope you enjoy your book 🙂
Those holly leaves are oddly satisfying to look at.
They are sturdy and bright, aren’t they?
Wonderful ♥️
Thank you!