Getting ready....
It's that time of year again
Christmas seems to come earlier every year. No sooner is Hallowe’en over than the Christmas decorations appear everywhere. What used to be a meaningful religious celebration has become just an excuse for excessive consumption. I’m not a religious person, and I do appreciate the feast at the darkest time of year, but I do feel sad that the deeper meaning of the season, has for so many people been replaced by purely a desire to over-indulge.
We’re approaching Advent, which, in the church calendar, is the time leading up to Christmas, a time of preparation and of opening advent calendars. Advent starts on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, which this year is 30 November. When I was growing up, we had paper advent calendars, where you opened a cardboard window to reveal a Christmas themed picture. We were taught to be very careful not to tear the cardboard so that we could re-use the calendar every year! Nowadays, advent calendars often contain chocolate or more extravagant gifts. However, there is a trend to making your own advent calendars, I particularly like the idea from the Woodland Trust about filling small envelopes with ideas for winter activities, to be opened one a day during advent (you can read more about this, along with the Woodland Trust’s other advent calendar ideas here). This is a great way of encouraging children (and others!) to get outdoors and appreciate the wonders of winter wildlife!
Despite not being a particularly Christmassy person, I always start my preparations early, as I make most of my own cards. The photo below shows a selection of the cards I made last year.
I’ve also made some of my own Christmas decorations (I used a kit, that I’d bought second-hand from a charity shop and added other embellishments that had come from second hand craft supplies)
I posted about my crafty preparations for the festive season last year
I try to buy all my festive foods and gifts from small, local, independent shops and the only supermarket I shop in is the small Co-op, which is just round the corner from where I live (so is small and local, and although not independent is part of a co-operative chain, owned by its members). Our Christmas tree comes in a pot, straight from my mother-in-law’s garden, to which it is returned. Sometimes we’ve used the same tree every year for a few years, until it’s outgrown our living room.
Christmas itself starts on Christmas Day and then we have the 12 Days of Christmas. Once you’ve used up all the winter activities from your handmade, Woodland Trust inspired advent calendar then it’s time to celebrate 12 Days Wild, with the Wildlife Trusts. This project encourages you to get out and about and enjoy winter wildlife!
Young People Rewilding in the UK
This is an excellent, hopeful article from the Guardian newspaper, about how young people are rewilding a number of plots around the country.
Join the Campaign to Clean Up Scotland’s waterways
The Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland is calling on all Scottish parties to Clean Up Scotland’s Sewage, If you live in Scotland, please consider signing their petition.
What Happened at COP30?
Katharine Hayhoe shares her views on what went right and what went wrong at the latest climate talks at COP30
