Service of nine lessons and carols... I have no idea how it lasts so long when Kings College do it... we added in candle lighting and were still done in 40 minutes!

It was all just lovely - so proud of all who read, sang, played, lit candles, hung decorations, took the offering - and who participated by being there.

Feedback is that it was better than Kings College - and who am I to disagree?

So that's pretty much Advent done for another year! No Christmas Eve services this time, but lots to look forward to on Christmas Day itself.

(Yes, it's out of focus, but I'm not about to retake it!)

Every two years one of these arrives on, or soon after, my birthday.  Here in Scotland, once you turn 50 you are automatically enrolled in a the NHS bowel screening programme (elsewhere in the UK it is 60, though I gather some English Trusts and CCGs are now piloting a more thorough screening programme from 55).  So it gives me the opportunity for one of my periodic rants: DO THE SCREENING.  It might be a bit embarrassing testing your own poo; it might be undignified if you need a colonsocopy, but frankly compared to chemo, surgery, radiotherapy and a Damoclean sword, these are as nothing, trust me.

Also, finally, this made it through customs at Gretna...

I feel very privileged to have contributed to this special edition, and really hope that the stories shared will be an encouragement to others.

I glanced up just in time to see this most beautiful sight - and which my phone camera utterly failed to capture adequately... pinky-golden clouds behind the dark skeletal forms of deciduous trees: a new dawn, a new day, we have passed the solstice and the city looks good! (Can you spot the plagiarism there?)

Advent-wise we aren't quite there yet.  However, apart from shop workers, public transport workers, restaurant staff, emergency services, carer-workers, medical professionals, power suppliers, and clergy-types almost everyone I know is now on holiday - with a nice long 'shut down' because of how the bank holidays land.

So this photo is for those who today are starting their break - may it be a time of real rest, relaxation and refreshment.  As the days begin to lengthen, however slowly, may hope be renewed, joy be abundant, peace fill your hearts and love surround you.

Happy holidays (as our US friends would express it) to all readers... working or not!

According to Bede, the year pre-Christian 'English' (Anglo-Saxon) year began on Modranecht or 'Mother's Night' which coincided with the Roman, Christian, date of 25th December.  I don't think think there's anything mysterious about that, it's well known that the Christian calendar merrily adopted any pre-existing festivals that seemed to fit and then 'baptised' them.

However, the writer of the reflections uses this as a way in to reminding ourselves that God is  beyond gender, either binary or as a continuum, and too mysterious for our comprehension.  After millennia of male dominated god-language, maybe it's good to remind ourselves of feminine words too, not to replace but to peacefully coexist...

The prayer for today

Loving God, who is beyond gender, and so can be my heavenly Mother as well as my heavenly Father, may I know your mother's love this day, may I know that wonderful connection that is only possible between a mother and her child between you and me.  Be with me this day, O wonderful Mother God. Amen.

Today's choice is an old photo. Which I am setting alongside this one which is just a few days old...

The hat is the same in each photo, but they are separated by almost eight years.

It is a 'thing' that I now see every new Christmas as a very precious gift, something I would not have dared dream of eight years ago.  In those eight years I have made so many friends that otherwise I'd never have met - together we have laughed and loved and lost.

Each year, at some point I take a moment to reflect, just before the full-on festive fun begins. To remember how terrified I once was.  To recall the names of (far too many) absent friends. To realise how fortunate I am.

Advent/Christmas as a gift of remembrance... seems somehow right to me.