Christmas

I love Christmas.  The soft light that seems to emanate from the tree itself coming from the corner.  The smiles on everyone's faces.  The smell of cinnamon and cloves, and nutmeg, and every other delicious treat my dad designs.  The soft words in the evening as we come together on Christmas Eve to read our family books - each of us reads our favorite.  The candlelight service at church, where we join in with our distant family and sing the same carols being sung in almost every church or home in the country.  It is a time of softness and gentleness with other people and a time where love comes together between not just my family members but so many people I don't even know around the world.  It is something that grounds me and makes me feel like I am glowing, just like that Christmas tree in the corner.

I feel so incandescent at Christmas, whether it be from strings of lights, from reflective balls of color, or from the plethora of glitter dusted all over and around me.  I feel like there are treasures inside my heart to be saved just for this day.  Some to be ripped open with hearty enthusiasm and others carefully unwrapped and taken out the same way they were put in.  I feel like there are people surrounding me, daily, waiting to be with me when we are not together, excited to see me shining so bright and beautiful.  They don't even need to acknowledge their desire to be near me, but I can feel them looking at me, curious to see what detail they missed the first time they saw me or to find out how I have changed since the last time I was done up this way.

I have a few fleeting glances of Aberystwyth at Christmas: when the air is cold and the wind packs a punch.  I will forever love that little town and the way it felt like home, but for now, I am only left with the snapshots I was able to catch with my camera.

There are a few pictures here from my walk up Consti, and a couple from wandering around the Christmas-lit streets at night: I hope you enjoy.