light – Charlie Jordan's Website

‘Crush leftover mince pies & stir into brownies before cooking,’ I read in a magazine I found on the train today.

It’s mid November.

Another page mentioned M & S selling mince pies with chocolate brownie filling…

This must be a new trend for 2024, chocolate brownies mingling with mince pies.

Some homes already have Christmas decorations up, with shiny baubles and rows of twinkling lights peeking out from curtains to brighten the view as you walk past.

My friend begins early, and this weekend will festoon the house with tinsel & garlands, covering everywhere with sparkly stuff and more lights than there are stars in the Milky Way. It is deliciously over the top.

It’s dark before 5 p.m in the U.K., and her family will be welcomed home by a ‘round of applause’ in fairy light form! My favourite are the brussels sprout ones…

Even Scrooge would smile at them.

They’ll have baubles made by lost generations of the family, clinking next to trinkets from a Disneyland trip last year. Many happy memories on display, for a family that has also known much sadness over recent years.

Some people are critical of anyone who starts early for Christmas, but isn’t it just seeking the light in a time of darkness, in many ways?

And who cares what style gurus think, just follow your heart and continue any festive traditions your family enjoys, or none at all. Perhaps just notice and appreciate seeing more brightly coloured lights from windows on your street, and the good intentions behind them.

I love the Icelandic tradition of ‘Jolabokaflod’, meaning a Christmas Book Flood. The giving and receiving of books on Christmas Eve, and reading them together. That sounds calm and cosy.

Just don’t smudge your book with sticky fingerprints from the brownie mince pies… warmed in the air fryer this year, of course!

For a cosy gathering before then, I’m running December Mindfulness & Writing Zooms. It’s a mellow way to begin a busy month. We play with ideas & prompts, following our curiosity rather than aiming for perfection. Always with a lightness of heart and a ready sense of humour. Often with cups of tea.

There’s never any pressure to share anything you write, but it’s lovely when someone chooses to. We wind down each session with a chill out meditation, to relax & restore, leaving you with a sense of calm & comfort. Well, that’s my intention.

Last dates for 2024 are Sunday 1st December 10.30am – 12 p.m. (UK time), and Monday 2nd December 7pm – 8.30pm (UK time)

There’s a warm welcome, in a friendly group. Whether you’re already a regular, or someone who dips in and out when other commitments allow, or if you’re reading this and have never tried a session before, contact me from the website to find out more.

I wish you the best for the coming weeks and hope you find plenty of light and cosy warmth amid the darkness & chill of Winter. There’s a light snow forecast for parts of the U.K. next week, so if you’re reading this in Australia, enjoy the sunshine, while we’ll have our thermal vests on, as you get the ice lollies out…

Brownie picture thanks to Fotoweedio at Unsplash

Do you remember Bod?

When there weren’t endless channels of choice, we had just one programme at lunchtime each day for us kids. Well, that’s how I remember it.

Bagpuss & Pipkins were good, but my favourite was Bod. A triangle shaped person with their own theme tune. In fact every character had their own theme tune. Perhaps you can choose your own theme tune for today?

Anyway, Bod had mellow adventures, and once there was a snippet about trees losing their leaves as the seasons changed. (We didn’t have Mutant Ninja Turtles back then, or Zombie pizza games… )

I remember Aunt Flo was sad about the trees losing their leaves, but Bod offered an alternative way of looking at it. Without the trees losing their leaves, they wouldn’t be able to grow cherry blossom next Spring, or the Cherries in the summer after that.

The nature of ‘impermanence’, and how things are always changing was a simple yet profound insight for someone like me, who’d had something of a chaotic start to life, with 5 different families and homes in my first year alone. Perhaps a first glimpse of the Mindfulness traditions that would continue to be a foundation of my life.

As a grown up, I notice on a sunny Autumn day how you can see more of the blue sky with fewer leaves on the trees. Nearer winter, you can even see the birds more clearly on sparse branches. I practice this stubborn optimism to nudge out the winter blues!

It’s all about where you focus your attention.

I later discovered the creators of Bod, Joanne and Michael Cole had Taoist beliefs. Bod has a slight look of a monk, now I think about it. Serene face, bald head & a stubborn optimism.

As a kid growing up in Birmingham in the 70’s I’d not heard of Taoists or Buddhists, but this stuff made sense to me. Perhaps I was a ‘Bod-ist’ long before I set foot in a Buddhist temple years later. (Excuse the pun!)

Finding the wisdom in the everyday is where the gold in life is. It could be from Kids’ TV, a line in a favourite song or film, something your 6 year old says when the cat gets sick, or watching the dog relish every sniff on a morning walk, discovering the same park anew; all things can remind us of these simple but profound truths in life.

Seemingly endless huge changes in all of our lives over the last 18 months for sure, but hopefully if we look up, still some glimpses of blue skies to tide us through the colder months ahead.

Having changed the clocks last night, tonight’s earlier darkness will be noticeable. But we can keep our focus on the light, whether it’s candle lit pumpkins for Halloween, or scouring Youtube for a clip of Bod, perhaps that Cherry Tree episode…

Photo thanks to Unsplash, as our pumpkin is already roasted & half eaten!

Tag: light

Mince Pie Brownies & ‘Jolabokaflod’. Your 2024 Festive Traditions.

Autumn Wisdom from Children’s TV