Enough is as good as a feast

A little story about the pace of advent

Is your inbox still flooded with Black Friday emails? Are you feeling stressed about the Christmas countdown, the hurtle to the end of the year, the pressure of a jam-packed December diary?

At this time, I always take a breath in and think of the following small miracle of Christmas from my personal history: how, as kids, my two sisters and I shared one advent calendar between us – taking it in turns to open the calendar doors, meaning it was my go once every three days – and somehow it still seemed the most exciting thing ever. I might add that it wasn’t even a chocolate calendar; always a picture one.

Now, each year when December the first arrives, I still marvel at this incredible feat of parenting and try to channel those same feelings to find a more patient pace to pre-Christmas life. It’s that feeling of ‘enough is as good as a feast’, which capitalism doesn’t want us to feel. It’s the feeling of fun, which can get forgotten in the busyness of deadlines and commitments. It’s the feeling found in simple pleasures, quiet moments, and shared experiences.

I’d better stop there before I slip further into the language of Love Actually or the John Lewis advert … but happy December everyone; I hope we can find some mindful ways to slow it down.

A snap from after last Christmas, showing a frazzled-looking robin decoration just about managing to stay clinging on to the top of our Christmas tree.

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