On Having a Quiet Christmas ...

I chose to have a quiet Christmas – I tried to have a quiet New Year, but that was foiled by people letting off fireworks until well past one o’clock in the morning. While it must be lonely and painful to be alone, especially at this time of year, when it is NOT by choice, sometimes being by myself: doing what I want, when I want, relaxing, going for walks (or not), eating big meals (or not – actually, chiefly or not), and being able to contemplate the arrival of God Incarnate into the world without being side-tracked by celebratory busy-ness, is a blessing.

Friends expressed concern on hearing of my plans. I assured them I would be fine. And I was. These days, if you don’t like what’s on telly, there’s always loads and loads of programmes on catch-up. There are also old-fashioned things, like radio, or CDs – I listened to the latter when I realised not even Radio 3 could be relied on to play Christmas Carols. I don’t think I heard ‘Good King Wenceslas’ once!

My confession is, I didn’t quite manage to stop writing. I worked on a short story that will be my contribution to an anthology, I attempted a poem (I don’t think that’s going anywhere), and I spent time thinking about the shape of my third, and final, book in my Good King Wenceslas series (also known as the Premyslid Chronicles: for those who don’t know and/or wish to look ‘Warrior Princess, Errant Page’ is available on Amazon at https://amzn.to/4kErnNu and ‘Podevin and the Queen’s Death’ is at https://amzn.to/3XintQf ).

All in all, I had a nice, peaceful Christmas, where I could sit quietly and think about why the Almighty should choose to join us on earth – given the mess we’re making of it all, His reason can only be love. I hope and pray everyone had a wonderful Christmas – however peaceful or noisy it turned out to be – and I wish you health and happiness for 2026.

 

Nigel Oakley

Nigel was originally a Shropshire lad, being born and raised in Shrewsbury. His teaching career took him from the south-west of England to Teesside via Botswana, Africa. He has also served as World Development Officer for the Diocese of Durham for five years. Now settled back in the West Midlands, he spends his time writing novels, short stories, and other pieces – as well as sorting his house out!

His website is www.nigeloakleywrites.com