On the pagan calendar, the wheel of the year, we are currently in the dark time. Nights are long, days are dull, the weather grows colder, and traditionally this is the time to stack up your fire, make you home as cosy as you can, and hibernate for a few months, only emerging to find food and maybe take a little fresh air so you don’t fall ill. Nowadays of course, life is far more frantic, and we live in a world of electric light, constantly connected to the Internet, and always hurrying to do one job or another.

Here in the UK, we are still experiencing the pandemic and the effects of Covid-19 but it feels somehow distant, not quite real anymore. Life has mostly gone back to normal for me, apart from having to wear a face mask to work, keeping up with social distancing and protecting our sick and vulnerable friends. Personally, I am trying to repair my marriage with my husband, but it will take time due to his mental illness and the way I feel about us after many years of struggle and challenging behaviour. Our children are growing older which brings a new set of challenges and parenting adventures. My friends and family are remembering lost loved ones who passed at around this time of year. We all have something going on.

Such is life. This year I feel a lot happier in myself than I did previously. Strangely I don’t feel massively excited about Christmas yet and I won’t rush to put up our decorations. Perhaps that is mainly because of our mischievous kittens who just last week broke a vase I inherited from my Nanna. I don’t want them destroying my precious vintage Christmas ornaments and novelty Santa collection! But there is something else. I feel like I am more in the present rather than looking to the future. Everything is as it should be right now, and while there is room for improvement, life is generally good. We have date nights, events, and celebrations to anticipate, and we muddle through the bad stuff until we find a happy place. It is all we can do as human beings. There will always be a health struggle, a family feud, misunderstandings about work and relationships. If we are willing to talk, to communicate, and to work towards a compromise, I think we will be ok.

Take it easy in the run-up to Christmas, my friends. We all deserve a little down time, so why not do that now during the dark months, when our instinct is to hibernate. Light the fire, get yourself a hot drink, snuggle down in front of the TV. Everything is as it should be, and you are just where you need to be right now.

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