I like Christmas for the pretty lights, the brightness during the darkest days of the year. I like giving and recieving gifts - things chosen with thought and love. I've no time for the crass commercialism that usually passes for Christmas Spirit - "Buy loads of stuff nobody needs, but don't spend too much on anyone!" seems to have been the marketing message this year. It's easy, living simply on an island away from the rush and fuss, to make this time of year mean something different.
For me it's an inbetween time; a time to reflect on the year past, and to think about what I want from the year to come. A Christmas Day of stillness and blue sky was a little gift from the universe amid the rain and wild storms of December. Long Loch, as charming as ever, reflected my own inner peace back to me. The separation between me and the landscape falls away; I am a part of it, as it is a part of me. So the quiet space within my heart contains the entire universe.
