Monday Wut Wut: Here comes Winter

It's the end of November and it seems that everyone has switched into christmas mode. The weather has stopped being so variable and has settled into clear nights and crisp, frosty mornings. No more heatwaves or snow drifts and somehow everyone seems to have relaxed a little as we get back to normality.

Strange, as December is probably the least normal month of all. Dedicated to one thing, and one thing only. Christmas. Decorations are out in full blast in all the shops. The traditional start of the shopping season has begun and all other events have been puashed to one side for the BIG ONE. Given some of the violence and greed that has come to affect what is supposed to be a season of goodwill to all, it is easy to lose heart.

Unless you are buying something big or expensive for all your relatives, somehow you are a failure. I disagree, the personal special gifts which show you listened and thought about it are the ones that matter. Then again, there is still some magic. Watching a huge crowd of parents and kids waiting for Father Christmas to arrive in a sleigh and watching kids pet a pair of reindeerthat were absent mindedly munching on some hay, you hope that they are finding it magical and will take the season in the spirit it was intended.

I love the Holiday Season. I do my best to ignore it until December, but I remain truly, deeply, forever in love with Christmas.

I've decided to not buy any gifts this year. Everything is going to be handmade or else something I've written specifically for that person. It's going to make things a bit harder, since I'll really have to think about each gift I give, but I look forward to the challenge.

I have my youngest niece figured out, at least. I'm going to make her a clay mother cat with magnets in her belly and a litter of kittens who will stick to her belly when they get near her. I think I'll make my mother a figurine of a mother and child. I'm still not sure about anyone else, though.