Today is cold and there is the bite of frost in the air. Snow has been forecast for this week and it feels very much as if winter has finally arrived. It's the time to enjoy the last few days with the Yuletide tree and the house all aglow with fairy-lights. Very soon people will return to work and school, so this cosy time at home is to be treasured and enjoyed. It's a time to listen to festive tunes and enjoy all the lovely gifts you recieved for Christmas, while eating treats and drinking with merriment as you Zoom call friends and family.
I've been very grateful this year that I come from such a small family, because unlike lots of families, no-one has had to be left out! There were no agonizing decisions as to which side of the family to bubble with, or who was going to be invited round. The restrictions haven't really had a negative impact on me in any way and I feel very lucky to be in that position because I know that this Christmas will have been tough for a lot of people.
Winter is such a festive time, even after the Christmas trimmings have been put away. There are still winter markets, ice-skating and snow flurries to enjoy. For me there is nothing more beautiful than driving by the local woods and seeing it all frosted over, white and silvery in the mornings.
I got this new book, A Poem for Every Winter Day which epitomizes the season perfectly, with a poem for each day of winter, from the 1st of December until the 29th February. Some of the poems are wintry themed, waxing lyrical on the beauty of frost and snow. Here the classics are represented with Christina Rossetti's In the Bleak Mid-Winter, Thomas Hardy's Snow in the Suburbs and Robert Louis Stevenson's Winter-Time. Robert Frost's famous poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening is well known among literature students, but here too is his poem Dust of Snow which is beautiful in it's simplicity.Modern poets are also represented in this anthology too, from Maya Angelou to George the Poet, from Carol Ann Duffy to Spike Milligan.
As an art form poetry has the reputation for being a little intimidating, but this anthology is a fantastic primer for anyone who wants to read more poems without being bogged down in the academia of it all. A Poem for Every Winter Day will give you a taste of winter at any time of year, which is another reason why I like it so much. Some of the poems are short and simplistic, others are extracts from longer works of literature. It's a great book to dip in and out of, and by reading just one poem each day of winter you will be well-versed by springtime. And just look at that stunning cover art! It's one of the prettiest winter books I've ever seen and I feel happy just looking at it underneath my Christmas tree where the metallic font glimmers in the fairy-lights!
As early winter darkness falls I'm enjoying some of my Christmas presents; I'm wearing Pandora's Cinderella jewelry and Vera Wang's Princess perfume which is just lovely, and I plan on curling up for a evening of reading. I recieved Jason Fox's new book Life Under Fire which I like even more than his first book Battlescars. This book is extremely helpful and I know I'll be referring back to it time and time again, so I want to finish reading that tonight. Then I can start on this pretty book of winter poems. But whichever book I'm reading from now on it will be propped up on the velvet book pillow I got for Christmas. I've wanted a book pillow for years, so this silvery-grey velvet one is much appreciated and has been in use since Christmas day. I squealed when I opened it, I was that excited to finally have one!
So I'm going to light my new Frankincense and Myrrh candle, play Medwyn Goodall's A Christmas Tapestry CD, open my box of cherry liqueur chocolates, pour a glass of the matching cherry brandy and settle down with my book pillow and a new book, while the chestnuts roast in the oven. I hope that you enjoy the rest of the festive season and that Father Christmas brought you some marvelous new books this year too! BB Marie x
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