Tuesday, 18 December 2012

Decorating the Magic.

The houses at the bottom of my lane are very similar to the one in which I lived until I was eleven. And tonight several of them had their curtains open so I could see the Christmas trees, the hanging decorations, and the little lights which embroidered the dense green foliage or framed the door and window apertures. It took me back to the time when I would walk out of a dark December evening just to savour the little shows of light, colour and gaiety which enhanced the growing fever of Christmas. The hanging decorations are more glitzy and sophisticated now, and the lights shimmer rather than flash, but otherwise it’s pretty much the same.

Christmas was the pinnacle of the year for me, the time which contained the most magical hours – the last few on Christmas Eve and the first few on Christmas morning. Even the two words Christmas and Eve carried a sublime resonance that a whole book full of other words could never hope to match.

So what should this post be about? Lost childhood? The cares which come with growing up to swamp the best of preoccupations? The shortness of life, maybe? It’s all too obvious, really. Maybe it’s just about coming full circle.

No comments: