Holly

My feelings about Christmas are ambivalent. It used to correspond with school holidays and a break from teaching - great. Now it the busiest time of the year in the shop and we have to sell stuff in quantity - not so great. However, I have never been tempted to cancel Christmas as the religious festival and the warm, social occasions with friends and family make it worthwhile. Today lunch with our best friends and family was such an occasion and looking out of the window, I spotted the laden holly tree, that perennial symbol of all things winter and festive. Seeing how magnificent were its berries, it became an obvious candidate for today's blip.