Dreaming of a Turquoise Advent
I have come to the conclusion that Advent should be longer. ‘Oh, no!’ you may groan. ‘Not you, too! Isn’t it bad enough that everyone starts celebrating Christmas at the beginning of November these days?’ I agree, it starts far too early. A couple of weeks ago, when I invited friends round for an un-Christmas party, precisely on the grounds that 4 th November was nowhere near Christmas, my birthday, PDB11 ’s birthday, or anything except wanting to catch up with friends, neighbours and family – one of my friends couldn’t make it because she had to run a Christmas fair that day. Sometimes, the months of November and December remind me of a radio skit I once heard in which a representative of the Narnia Businessbeings’ Guild negotiates with the White Witch to ask whether, instead of making it always winter and never Christmas, she could make it always the run-up to Christmas and never Christmas. That way, he points out, they could at least boost Narnia’s economy by selling