I finally managed to find some mistletoe and some berried holly. Burnt my candle, and got 2 very excited children to decorate the tree, having put lights on it early this morning.

Now after being up since 6.30am (was in the supermarket before 7), it's nearly 3.00am and I can't sleep.

I've had a deeply turbulent year, so many things have happened that have affected me in ways I didn't think possible, and as a consequence, have got some strange and distressing health issues that I can't get my head round (and that in itself is part of the problem). I experienced such profound joy at the beginning of the year, only to see it crumble to dust and ashes before the first quarter was done. Since then it's been a long haul up a slope that seems entirely made of boulders and scree... if I can get past the boulder, I slide down the scree, and if I make it past the scree I get stuck behind a boulder.

But the fog is lifting and I can see the top of the mountain; that is one good thing. I just have to find another way to get to the top.

I hope you can all see your mountains clearly, and that you have a year of looking down from them, rather than trying to climb round them.

Anyway...   Merry meet, and merry greet, Wassail!

LTS