Light, birth and hope

Although it was blustery earlier today (there's now a gale blowing this evening) the sun shone for a time and I also heard a wren chortling at full throttle from within a patch of shrubs. For a short time it felt like Spring but this might be because of the contrast with the days of continuous fog and drizzle we have been recently experiencing. 

Nevertheless, the passing of the Winter Solstice, and Christmas and New Year celebrations do signify a turning point, especially if your life, like ours, is more than usually governed by the seasons. It is understandable why our pre-historic forebears went to such extraordinary lengths to mark this time of the year with the expectations of light, birth and re-birth, and hope.

It has been a busy year on the smallholding and life generally. But best of all is that our two younger daughters have this year joined their elder sister by both being blessed with the precious gift of parenthood - a daughter each. As they both live some distance away, Christmas with them on the smallholding was rather special. Here's a clip of cousins meeting for the first time, 9 months old and 4 weeks respectively.