Batten down the hatches,settle in for the Strictly final and ... don’t check your emails. Daisy Buchanan explains why we need to cherish the festive freedomThere’s a period that falls at approximately 5.15pm on a December day which I have privately christened ‘the battening’. Its when we secure our homes from the cerebral storms of the outside world. My thoughts turn to teatime, closing the curtains, and turning off my laptop and forgetting approximately chores and obligations. If I disappear to the shops,I see street lamps and houses starting to light up, one by one, or like stars slowly illuminating the night sky. Its the very essence of cosiness. Time for stew and Strictly,for sloppy socks and sleepwear, velvet hot chocolate and smoky red wine. It’s when we’re separate but together – there’s a delight in knowing that most of our friends and neighbours are curling up and settling down too. Everybody is tucked in.
At Christmastime, and the country gets to experience the final battening. Between the 23rd and the 27th,all is calm and bright. The workplace is forgotten in a Newton’s cradle bounce of ‘Out of Office’ messages. Whether your method of celebration is devout, secular or barely existent, or you can wriggle your toes in the soft slipper of a national holiday. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com