christmas eve

After a hot day yesterday, this morning was cool and drizzly. This has been very much the rule since the false spring and summer came. Warm dry weather seems unable to get a purchase, so we are left with tentative daily forecasts that leave us feeling much as the English must every summer.

I have been disappointed at the lack of Christmas programming on television. When I was a kid, the week before Christmas was often given over to Christmas-themed movies of a didactic or slightly sacharine kind, or specials that looked whimsically at the central themes of the holiday. I can't find anything like that now, which is a shame because these kinds of shows created a kind of magic for children.

I suppose the same magic might now be derived from sampling the endless supply of toy catalogues that clutter our letterbox. Do the glossy pages parading cheap, breakable plastic from our erstwhile Chinese trading partners evoke the same gentle frisson that A Christmas Carol or The Little Drummer Boy did?

I hear that six and seven year olds are now asking for Ipod Touches for Christmas. I'm afraid that makes me worry, and though it's none of my business at all, I ponder at what they might ask for when they are teenagers.

Christmas has lost, at the public level, any suggestion of the spiritual or the morally uplifting. Even in a secular society, that is not necessarily a good thing. Generations have successfully raised their young on solid stories about right and wrong, or themes that highlight the best qualities in human nature. These days we are too busy buying things or ogling gadgets or socially networking to get it.

Not getting it is a worry, I think.

Happy Christmas to everyone. And peace on earth.

Especially on the Korean peninsula.

It seemed that the 'late winter' would stretch on forever. Finally warmer weather has set in, at least for the time being. Meanwhile I have injured my shoulder by using hand paddles for breast-stroking. Apparently you are not supposed to use them for that particular stroke, so I am confined to wading through shallow water or lapping with a kickboard. Neither is terribly appealing.

Christmas is getting terribly close but the season has been somewhat upset by a dispute over who saw what at a playgroup incident last week. Of course, we know what we saw and what we didn't see, irrespective of the increasing absurdity of the other case. Seems that some agencies might always settle for a 'fudge' when it comes to truth-telling. One can always hope that liers will be outted, though this remains but a hope only.

Only one unit to go until my Diploma of Counselling is completed. That should be in by early in the new year. I hope that I can put it to good use. I'm not out to make money, just to use my skills to bring a little more light into some people's lives. Well, that's my hope, anyway.