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Christmas Reflections
Dec. 25th, 2021 10:54 pmAs the end of year approaches, I have been fortunate enough to have a few visitors, starting with a day with Paula MCF who was visited from Adelaide. Paula is a very inspiring and pragmatic anarchist with a great heart and understanding of people. Raised a Unitarian, it was appropriate that a couple of days later I caught up with Florence W., from said church, a great and true friend of whom I had seen very little of this year, circumstances being what they may.
Yesterday, following a continental tradition, I spent Christmas Eve in the company of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
caseopaya, initially in the day for final renovations on our Willsmere property and then for a long lunch at Buoy, our old cheap-and-cheerful Italian restaurant. That evening we went out to The Astor, one of our favourite haunts pre-coronavirus days to watch "It's a Wonderful Life". It is ever-increasingly twee in parts, but there is no doubt of the strength of the wider narrative; I suspect that Frank Capra was all too familiar with the struggle of working-class Americans to achieve some economic security.
Today I spent nearly all of the day in the company oflei_loo's family. They are all lovely people and the day was spent with good banter. Of course, Robin's skills as a chef are really something quite special so even when he prepares a Christmas lunch that is deliberately understated and trying for simplicity, it ends up being something quite spectacular. With an unexpected late start, it was quite late in the evening before we finished up for the day, as I journeyed on the return train with lei_loo's mother.
I sometimes wonder whether I am good company in such events. Much is always made of the ritual of gift-giving, feasting, and general happiness. Whilst I put on a brave face and engage, my thoughts are invariably with those who cannot enjoy the day; whether it is those who are in hunger or poverty, in sickness, in loneliness, in prison or other detention: where's their Christmas? So it is, the happier the environment on this day, the more morose I become inside. "For with much wisdom comes much sorrow, and as knowledge grows, grief increases... Sorrow is better than laughter, for a sad countenance is good for the heart. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning." (Ecclesiastes)
Yesterday, following a continental tradition, I spent Christmas Eve in the company of
caseopaya, initially in the day for final renovations on our Willsmere property and then for a long lunch at Buoy, our old cheap-and-cheerful Italian restaurant. That evening we went out to The Astor, one of our favourite haunts pre-coronavirus days to watch "It's a Wonderful Life". It is ever-increasingly twee in parts, but there is no doubt of the strength of the wider narrative; I suspect that Frank Capra was all too familiar with the struggle of working-class Americans to achieve some economic security.Today I spent nearly all of the day in the company of
lei_loo's family. They are all lovely people and the day was spent with good banter. Of course, Robin's skills as a chef are really something quite special so even when he prepares a Christmas lunch that is deliberately understated and trying for simplicity, it ends up being something quite spectacular. With an unexpected late start, it was quite late in the evening before we finished up for the day, as I journeyed on the return train with lei_loo's mother.I sometimes wonder whether I am good company in such events. Much is always made of the ritual of gift-giving, feasting, and general happiness. Whilst I put on a brave face and engage, my thoughts are invariably with those who cannot enjoy the day; whether it is those who are in hunger or poverty, in sickness, in loneliness, in prison or other detention: where's their Christmas? So it is, the happier the environment on this day, the more morose I become inside. "For with much wisdom comes much sorrow, and as knowledge grows, grief increases... Sorrow is better than laughter, for a sad countenance is good for the heart. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning." (Ecclesiastes)
