Opening our 2nd Advent window today to reveal a poem called Evergreen, from the collection Just Take Five.
This poem is dedicated to the friends that we keep forever in a little corner of our hearts. I wrote this as a response to a festive day out with friends, walking the grounds of Polesden Lacey.
Recent years have seen us meeting up during the run up to Christmas to share a wintery walk and a hot chocolate at a National Trust property. It has become one of those events that contributes to our growing festive feeling each year. Our children are now too grown up to join the queue for Santa's grotto but they still enjoy the lights, decorations and dressing our dog up in a festive outfit.
In past years, we would have met as two families with six children between us. The older ones were content to support the youngest in their clue finding or joy in meeting the man in the big red suit. Now some of our children have partners or homes of their own and will be starting to make their own memories and traditions for Christmas and other celebrations together. And so it is that some family traditions don't disappear completely - they just change a little. In that way, they take on their own 'evergreen' quality.
The year that I wrote this poem marked a return to our festive meetings, after pandemic restrictions had prevented us walking together for a while. Maybe that sense of renewed community sparked my thoughts or added a buzz to the occasion. There were certainly many people there, wrapped in coats and scarves, walking pathways festooned with fairy lights and red bows, chattering, smiling and sharing an experience together. As if part of some great choreographed dance, all these families and friends were enjoying this festive experience. With that in mind, I wish you some joyous moments of community as Advent unfolds and may they remain with you as evergreen memories.
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