MONDAY MORNING SUNRISE AND CANDLES

Most of you will know that I tend to be a night owl but Mr. HCB is more of a morning person.  He gets up just after 6 o’clock most mornings, whereas I can happily slumber for another two hours or more.  

However, this morning we needed to be up because we had an early morning dental appointment.  When I opened the bedroom curtains, I said out loud to myself “WOW, what a beautiful sky!” and then picked up my phone to take a photograph.  It was still fairly dark, so in the next bedroom, the Christmas Candle Bridge, as it’s called, was still lit - in fact, this has been lit every evening and  morning since last December.  Gill, one of our friends, who is a carer, and lives quite near to us, passes our house on her way to work every day.  She said to me in January that she loved seeing the candles in our upstairs bedroom window because they always cheered her up, especially when she was on the way home after a long shift because when she saw them she knew she was almost home.  I decided then that they would stay lit all year long just for her, but hope that others have also been cheered by seeing them too.

So here you have a beautiful sunrise and the candles - just right for Advent.  Interestingly, I am reading a book entitled “A Child is Born” by J Barrie Shepherd, which was written in 1988 and which I have used for many years at Advent.  The reading for today was from Matthew 25, about the ten maidens who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom - five of them foolish and five of them wise, so I thought that a story about lamps was quite appropriate for today’s photograph.

We both had a clean bill of health from the dentist, having had our inspection and a “clean and scrape” - this was done today, for the first time since the lockdowns, by our dentist using a sonic spray with an extractor about a foot away from our mouths.  I did ask if it also extracted fat cells when the nurse said if it did, she was first in line!  We love our dentist and all the staff at the surgery and always have a good humoured visit.

My lovely candles, with different smells, have arrived today from our friend, Kathryn, in Scotland - she has a small business and we wanted to support her;  they smell amazing - so although I was going to give some as gifts, I may just keep them all!  She also included two of her Haiku Booklets, so with her permission, I am going to use them at the end of my Blips. Today I will also add the one for yesterday, which as you know, was the First Sunday in Advent.

It says in the front of the booklet : “The Haikus are all quite varied, with some focusing on the Christmas story, others on traditions and a few considering the needs of others.  There is also a bad cracker joke in amongst the collection.  Read them as you will, but please do allow yourself a moment to pause each day, look for the wonder and the magic, and really feel it.”  Thank you so much, Kathryn, for allowing me to use them!

First Day of Advent:
Christmas is coming.
Advent is the journey; keep
following the star.

Second Day of Advent:
Children wake early
in anticipation of
chocolate for breakfast.

Kathryn Epps