Traffic like Christmas...

Last week I had to meet a friend in town. I made sure to arrive early as she is so punctual you could set your watch by her. Five minutes before our scheduled meeting I got a text - "running late...traffic like xmas..." 

I always feel that we should be approaching the end of the year slowly, winding down and taking stock. Instead we usually hurtle towards the end, trying to fit in all the things we meant to do earlier in the year. And then visitors start appearing and the entertaining begins and so you are either feeling guilty about having fun when you should be finishing something off, or frustrated about wanting to be having fun while you rush around completing tasks. 

It doesn't help that businesses start closing their books at the end of November for any new orders and schools close in the first week of December. Yoga classes ended more than a week ago. At least Run/Walk for Life is carrying on until the 21st ... before all the eating begins!

I am quite excited that we are going to be here for the holidays. I plan to be a tourist in my own town and have been collecting snippets from the newspapers of what's hot (or cool!). 

So far I am definitely checking out Bree Street for its restaurants and local designs. There is a coffee shop on Bree called  Escape Caffe which is owned by a Nobel Prize winner, which deserves a visit. Woodstock seems to be getting trendier and more arty by the week.

An old favourite which I share with my daughter is to trawl Kalk Bay. A really great day out is to drive to Muizenberg, have breakfast at Knead and then walk all along the boardwalk to Kalk Bay, stopping for coffee and shopping. There's a great independent bookshop, Kalk Bay Books, worth a visit.  

But today, I am going to enjoy the jazz as played by the Delft Big Band at the Helderberg Nature Reserve. Will keep you posted!

The Spirit of Christmas

Last night, with carols playing to an African beat in the background, we sat down to Christmas Eve dinner. Our multi-cultural and multi-national group represented Sweden, Canada, Mauritius, South Africa, Belgium and the US, and a few religions too. It was hard to tell that half the people in the group had never met before. Around a table decorated with pine cones, candles and glitter, children and adults found common ground in spite of being separated by language and culture.

Every year our Canadian friend gathers together a motley group of people for Christmas Eve dinner. She takes care with the tree, the table and food and drink, recreating the traditions of her childhood on the other side of the world. For the last few years we have enjoyed being a part of her new traditions.

This year the gathering had a different spirit to it. It was the first time she was celebrating with her own daughter who is 20 months old and it opened up the gathering to children from 4 to 14. As children do, they brought an innocence and simplicity to the evening. They gave us permission to jump up and down and be enchanted by the lights and the presents, and the fun of being together. We stepped over little ones crawling after the cats, watched as the tweens connected and marvelled at out how small the world is, as we got to know each other.

The spirit of Christmas was there as we passed around a candle to light the ones which had been placed at our setting and paused to silently give thanks for the year that has been and to express hope for the year to come. At the end of the evening we parted with hugs, exchanging gifts and phone numbers, aglow with the connections that had been made with respect, tolerance and love.