Keeping an eagle eye...

I popped into K's garden this afternoon to drop off a couple of things I'd collected in town to plant when I'm there next week, and was amused to find the four ancient chooks roosting behind the concrete eagle, which then proceeded to keep a beady eye on them as they greeted me and Bean.

Town was busy for a Tuesday, and I suppose this is just the start of the pre-Christmas madness. It has reminded me to organise my life so that I don't need to venture there during Christmas week itself. One year I ended up in town on 24th December. Never again. 

I find this time of year extraordinarily hard to navigate. The over-consumption of everything, the rampant consumerism and the unbelievable amounts of what I call non-food* filling supermarket trolleys leave me literally shaking with anger.

I totally understand the joy and excitement of families congregating and sharing precious time and good food together. And I get that cheerful decorations can be a boon in the darkest part of the year in the northern hemisphere. 

But every accoutrement to Christmas is simply filling the pockets of people selling stuff. None of it is essential, no matter how much marketing people may try to convince us otherwise.

And the very worst thing of all is that in the frenzy and myopia of 'having a good time' people ignore -and actually exacerbate - the impact on our planet, our home. 

My Christmas will be spent celebrating and honouring that home. I will enjoy a couple of video calls to far flung family and the giving and receiving of a handful of home-crafted gifts. And I shall soak up the delights of my small piece of the planet.

You may find me slightly less 'commenty' than usual because I find it extraordinarily hard to be excited about plastic decorations, tables laden with food, piles of presents and the like. 

And I haven't even mentioned the disparity between the haves and have-nots at the time of year which is supposed to bring peace and joy to all humans. I'll leave that for another day...

I am really no humbug. This is about applying a conscious planet-sized filter to how we celebrate a tradition in a respectful manner.  


* potato chips/crisps and snacks, fizzy drinks, sliced white bread wrapped in plastic, packets of biscuits....you get the drift