Across the valley

Today we finally face the inevitable: we take down the Christmas decorations. Whilst some like to strip the festive ‘tat’ the moment Christmas Day has passed, I like to cling on to every light and bauble until the last possible minute. In fact, I’d probably have pushed for keeping the tree up until tomorrow if it wasn’t for the garden waste collection in the morning. 

I don’t think anything emphasises the passing of time as much as packing away the Christmas gems. Some of these have gone through the same process almost every year of our marriage, and others we’ve collected at key points on the way. Now more than ever, they symbolise such special family time and I wonder when we’ll all be able to gather together next. Once the glitz and lights and colour is packed away we’re left with January darkness; spring seems so far away. I leave a few strings of lights around to add some warmth, and tomorrow I’ll definitely be buying flowers to cheer the place up. 

There are still remnants of unhealthy Christmas indulgence around the place, so I suspect it will be next week before the healthy eating programme really starts, but I do acknowledge that packing away the decorations leaves no excuse to at least set out my aims and targets (let’s not call them resolutions) for the year. But that’s for another day. 

Before we start on all this clearance though, there’s time for a short walk. It’s a sunlit morning, and the views across the Conwy valley are beautiful before the rain sets in. There’s a dusting of snow on the top of the Carneddau, but the valley itself seems veiled in the lightest of mists. 

Edit: I’ve bowed to popular opinion and changed my main to the snow-dusted collage, leaving the valley in extras! 

Thanks again for the kindness shown for yesterdays puffed-up Robin!