December 24 Advent Gratitude

Today we went out to the Chilterns for a wintery socially distanced Tier4 walk: me, husband and son. The younger one stayed gone to walk with her friend- at this age more vital than anything else. I was so grateful for the English wi yet sky, the light, the colours, that you can drive half an hour out of London and be in a wide, in peopled space of fields and forests.

It hasn’t been easy doing my Advent Gratitude this year. On other years going out into the city has yielded treasures. This year I have gone over and over the same tracks. But paying attention has made them newly valuable.

Tonight on Christmas Eve I know what makes me most grateful- to be part of my family, this small group of mammals who make up my world and give it meaning. I am gifted by every one of them,