Today sees the last candle on the advent wreath being lit, just as we have slipped past the Winter Solstice and know that we are now on the long journey towards summer with each day becoming lighter for slightly longer. Many people gathered at Stonehenge yesterday, to celebrate the Winter Solstice with a focus on renewal and rebirth and positivity. My husband recalled how his Mum had always liked this day because it meant that we could start looking towards the summer and the positivity that went with that.
We have been burning our advent candle this weekend - I did say that we would be playing catch-up by now and I was right. Several days' worth of burn time were needed yesterday, as I sat wrapping the last presents and went through our long list of 'to do jobs' with my husband. Now feeling more recovered from my chest infection, I am slowly beginning to feel that I am back on track and know that we have a plan for the next few days ahead.
We have sourced most of the shopping, apart from the last-minute perishables which we will go on an early morning expedition to acquire tomorrow. The presents are now all wrapped and waiting for Santa to 'deliver' after our children have completed the treasure hunt clues that we have written this afternoon. That's bound to cause a little confusion but adds a layer of fun and madness to the proceedings. I think I have everything ready for the Christmas table and we have our plan to prepare vegetables ahead of the day to help everything go smoothly in order to meet our 2.30pm dinner deadline. After that point, whoever is there and whatever happens with the food, we're all in it together and a toast or two to the Christmas season will help to make us all feel merry and bright.
I've found myself being quite nostalgic within these blog posts and readers have contacted me to say how much they have enjoyed jumping on board this nostalgia train with me. They've been thinking back to Christmas past - either from their own childhoods or to thoughts of when their children were younger and the magic of Santa and wonderment took pride of place on the big day. When looking for today's author moment to share, I rediscovered a poem I wrote in 2020 and knew straight away that it would fit the bill here. It is called 'Nostalgia Train' and it shines a light on all those little moments from our lives that we should celebrate and enjoy together with our friends and family.
Nostalgia Train
If we all have a story to write within a book,
I wonder what it would contain if we paused to take a look,
Within the paragraphs of prose, the details of it all,
I'd find my snapshot Polaroids pegged upon a wall...
On Chopper bike with flared jeans, riding in my street,
With Princess Leia hair buns and a liquorice wheel treat,
Sipping on an ice-cream float in a Wimpy bar,
Two families on their drive to Devon, eight crammed in one car!
Queueing to buy a ninety-nine at the school ice-cream van,
At the Trocadero with my friends, wandering with no plan,
A sweltering day in August, clad in wedding lace,
A first home built together, nothing special but our place.
A graduation ceremony, wearing gown and hat,
Setting up my first classroom, then driving to our flat,
My son in checkered dungarees, leading our 'Bear Hunt' way,
"Dangle me Daddy" my daughter calls, within her seaside play.
A moonlit, midnight walk in June, with only torch in hand,
Talking of all and nothing whilst strolling on the sand,
A Cornish pasty in the rain, under cover of the trees,
Watching my kids in wet suits, body boarding in the sea.
A crisp, cold walk with pale washed skies, cheeks rosy in the park,
Marshmallows toasting on the fire, talking 'til it's dark,
A festive walk along the Thames, a couple night alone,
My author talk completed, pushed out of my comfort zone.
The commas in a story, where we pause to note what's there,
The many faded faces, some now leave an empty chair,
They're all there if we search our mind, to replay from a file,
Jump onboard the nostalgia train to recall them for a while.
Karen Honnor: 'Diary of a Dizzy Peri - Poems and thoughts on midlife, menopause and mental health.' 2020
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