It began, as most life-altering things do, without warning. Mary wasn’t praying for revelation. She wasn’t prepared. She was simply living — and that, it seems, was enough. The angel didn’t descend with thunder or spectacle, but with words. A greeting, strangely formal, and yet weighted with eternity. She was told she was favoured, though … Continue reading When Heaven Knocked Softly: Merry Christmas
Tag: Christmas
The Christmas Stamp Scandal
Image: © Royal Mail. Used for commentary/critique. —or— How the Holy Family Became Too Brown for Britain There’s nothing more British than a Christmas stamp scandal. Every year, the nation that once ruled half the world now works itself into a moral froth over an adhesive square worth a pound twenty-five. It’s as though we … Continue reading The Christmas Stamp Scandal
The Chicken and the Egg
I straightened my tie with a practised tug, pulling the knot snug against my throat before shrugging into my charcoal-grey suit jacket. The weight of the fabric settled against my shoulders with familiar gravity. Then came the overcoat - black, thick, a bulwark against the creeping chill of a winter’s night. I turned the collar … Continue reading The Chicken and the Egg
White Christmas!
I can’t recall many years when we actually had a proper white Christmas when I was little. Snow always seemed to be the stuff of Christmas cards and festive telly adverts - pretty, twinkly, and about as real as Santa squeezing down the chimney. On my desk at work, I have a desk tidy - … Continue reading White Christmas!
Gaudete! A Tale of Two Chickens
Advent, with its quiet reflections and flickering candlelight, often stirs up memories - some sacred, some sentimental, and, in my case, one involving a chicken that met a rather undignified end on our kitchen floor. It was during a Christmas service, listening to others share their treasured festive recollections, that I found myself smirking at … Continue reading Gaudete! A Tale of Two Chickens
Wording 