Story-time and Hibernation

I am still an absolute sucker for this time of year. I love all those old films – most of them with a story of good overcoming evil. The Santa Clause II got me yesterday. And wasn’t that a bit like the fight in Heaven between Lucifer and Michael? The substitute Santa tries to take over. He gets up a Nazi-like army of life-size toy soldiers. In the end, love conquers all. Then there was Lassie, last week – and broadcast several times since on several different channels - Miracle on 34^th Street. We’ve recorded and will be recording several more. There’s The Railway Children and The Chronicles of Narnia this afternoon for instance.

There is something definitely magical about this time of year. For me, it is always a time to catch up on some reading as well. The days are very short. It can be cold and unwise to travel. So you stay in, keep warm and feed yourself both physically and spiritually.

Our northern hemisphere is tilting back towards the sun now. That often brings brighter but colder weather. They had promised us mainly cloud for today. Yet this morning it has been sunny and bright. Cold, but with the temperature rapidly rising. A time for looking with optimism towards the future. And perhaps we visualise it well because of the stories on which we feed our spirit.