I鈥檓 a long way from childhood and still,听every year, the first sightings of听Christmas lights and sounds of Yuletide tunes re-awaken long-ago youthful stirrings of joy-filled anticipation.
This sweet nostalgia is no longer closely associated with gift giving and receiving. It is linked more to conviviality and kindness expressed among family and friends and extended to others. It is about instilling light, warmth and coziness into midwinter.
In recent years, the few presents I give are restricted almost exclusively to consumables, some from the garden in the form of sweet bay swags, kiwis, and small jars of a fruit sauce or jam. Like many people these days, I long for and actively pursue the elusive lifestyle virtue of simplicity.
A constant reminder is attached to the wall beside my office door: 鈥淟ive simply so others can simply live.鈥� Art work above the caption includes a steamy bowl of soup, a bicycle, a wheelbarrow and spade, a pear hanging from a twig, washing hung on a line.
My column on gifts for gardeners earlier this month focussed on the basic, essential tools that make ease and pleasure a certain component of every gardening project.
I revel in life鈥檚 basics, such as simple, quality food, much of it the vegetables and fruits produced through the work of my own hands.
Simplicity can be fun. I delight in previously owned belongings, like the gardening tools that my father used before me. Most of the clothing I wear was pre-owned, much of it from a thoughtful neighbour whose mother died two years ago. Going through and trying on the听mother鈥檚 lovely clothes was like revelling in an extended Christmas.
The collection included a dazzling array of cotton tee shirts, perfect for replacing the few ancient, tatty ones I鈥檇 been wearing in the garden. Never before have I enjoyed summer gardening bedecked in such sartorial splendour.
An ongoing, touching thing about this substantial gift is that when Kim sees me wearing her mother鈥檚 clothes she wraps me in her arms. Like hugging her mother again.
Christmas will be significantly simplified this year, in light of expenditures on a most excellent and exciting, just-acquired gift: plumbing 鈥� specifically, the replacement of听several cranky items in the bathroom beside my office, next to the door into the garden. It鈥檚 my office bathroom and where I听wash up after gardening.
I鈥檓 thrilled beyond words with a new, unchipped sink, a toilet that works, and taps that neither drip nor leak. I鈥檒l be displaying my intense glee at these porcelain treasures to Christmas visitors with a big red听bow atop the toilet tank.
Like basic, essential tools for gardening, gifts that are really needed are the ones that bring with them the greatest delight.
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Hope. Today, the winter solstice, is a turning point in the year, one that many look forward to and beyond, eager for the change it听will usher in.
Especially gardeners. Once we pass beyond this shortest, darkest day in the year, with the sun at its lowest in the sky, slowly the sun will rise higher and daylight hours will gradually lengthen. Warmth will eventually follow. The earth will spring back into energetic life and invite us to participate in its resurrection with resumed care of our landscapes and by planting.
For gardeners, the official change of season that we mark today sparks hope. On a work table beside me lie a stack of newly arrived 2020 seed catalogues almost vibrating with promise, and hope. What gardener exists who does not believe that the coming growing season will be the best ever?
We live on hope. Every seed we firm into the soil, every transplant tucked carefully into prepared ground, is an expression of hope in new life.
It is fitting that the celebration of Christ鈥檚 birth follows closely on the winter solstice, just as the shortest day and the longest night of the year have passed. For Christians, Jesus is the 鈥淟ight of the World,鈥� bringing a message of hope and a fresh start for humankind.
Ancient winter solstice traditions involved gift-giving, a holiday from work, and much merry-making to mark the joyous anticipation of a coming increase in light and warmth and a return to full life .
Similar customs prevail during the Christmas season. Both celebrations manifest hope for rebirth and new life.
I wish to all a Christmas holiday season filled with light and warmth, an abundance of hope, and the loving company of听family and friends. Merry Christmas!
