The First Advent Is Here.

A Sunday in November...

A bit strange to have advent this early but then again, the four advents have to fit in before Christmas. The weather is playing along. Yesterday some snow, well actually sleet, and today a cold and rainy day. Stay at home weather, eat everything in the fridge weather and now, first advent weather.

This festive season is turning out to be nothing like people planned. This year at least everyone hoped for an end to the pandemic rules and had made big plans of meeting family, shopping galore and holidaying away. Alas, the best laid plans.

Here in Austria our mood for shopping had already been kept in check with the recent lockdown but now, with the threat of a new viral strain being in the mix, the next few weeks look bleak where Christmas is concerned.

Or do they? Somehow we are learning the hard way that Christmas will still be Christmas even without a mountain of presents and a bus load of people. Slowly but surely a lot of us are beginning to understand the true value of Christmas and it has nothing to do with ticking off the various items on shopping lists.

We are learning to appreciate the luxury of having a home. A family. Work and most importantly health. Spending a lot of time at home alone makes us give credence to a home. It is after all a place where we can relax and let our guard down. A place to recharge and a place to simply be with our loved ones. And happily be there.

In a roundabout way this pandemic is peeling away the layers society has made us adopt and lets us rediscover the amazing beings that we are. At home there is nobody to judge us, well apart from perhaps not making favourite meals! Thank goodness for our homes which let us be us and give us a respite from a stressful life, a life which many might change for the better.

Biggi