Here it is – my last post of 2008. And no doubt, like me, you’re running around doing all those last-minute jobs that have to be done before the holidays can properly begin. Picking the final gifts, grappling with many square feet of wrapping paper, rolling out the dough for the Christmas cookies or the pastry for the mincepies (depending where on the globe you call home). But perhaps also like me you feel that the main event of Christmas is being with your family and best friends – the people who really make this time of year special for you, and for whom, like me, you gladly travel long distances.
The photo should give you a clue about where I am. Yes, it is London’s Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, and it’s great to be here at this special time of year – though I also miss our Virginia home too (especially our street’s annual sleigh ride – well actually, more of a hay-wagon ride, minus the hay but plus a few wine bottles!). My family can all be together this year and that already makes it a very special Christmas for me. The trip will include lots of fun things – a couple of shows up in Drury Lane and Covent Garden, and of course a trip to Oxford Street to see the fabulous Christmas lights.
If you’re thinking of sending me a submission you might want to wait until the first week of January when I’ll be planted at my desk once again, all refreshed and raring to see what the new year will bring. The ubiquitous Blackberry (aka the Crackberry) has been put to sleep in the depths of a suitcase, only to be pulled out for disasters of a rare and dreadful nature. Silent night, holy night, and all is peaceful at the Greenhouse.
So I wish you all the happiest of holidays and New Year celebrations and many good things in 2009. Who knows what the new year will bring – almost certainly many challenges for us all, given the global economic climate. But also, I hope and believe, many great and exciting events and achievements on a personal and professional level. I wish you all happy and satisfying writing, a sense that you are making progress in your literary craft and, above all, enjoying what you do.
Thank you, so many of you, for sharing the adventure of 2008 with me. I’ve loved getting to know many of you in small and large ways. Have yourselves a merry little Christmas – and I’ll leave you with the great words from John’s Gospel that I was so privileged to read at our church’s service of Lessons and Carols last week.
IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD.