Yes, Christmas is getting closer and closer and I can finally answer that question for you, because the lit up one that was standing on the front porch at the bottom of our road definitely couldn’t. It got blown down in the latest batch of strong winds, and had to be carried back up, with my husband’s enthusiastic assistance because securing reindeer in place is exactly the sort of engineering challenge that he loves. If it’s broken, he can fix it. If it’s not broken, he wants to take it apart to see how it works ready for when he needs to fix it. If it’s computer software it needs to be tweaked and the settings need to be adjusted till it works as well as possible.
My son is just the same, and my daughter sees things visually and is, although this is a proud mama speaking, a very talented artist. Me? I’m good with paperwork and forms but that sort of thing leaves me looking at it and thinking ‘you what?’ Or, quite possibly ‘eek!’ The word ‘help’ often comes into my mind too, but that’s okay because I’m lucky enough to have people who can help so I do the paperwork and they do that sort of stuff. I also make a good steak pie and chips and an excellent syrup sponge and custard, which happens to be my husband's favourite meal
I was thinking about that in the context of heroes, because to my mind, the qualification of a hero or a heroine is when you see them coming and say ‘Thank God you’re here.’ This is actually a wider category than you’d think because there are times when a gas engineer or a nice gentleman from the Water Board is the answer to your prayers. So too, is a person with a new car battery when yours has gone irredeemably flat (and I was especially grateful to the nice expert who told me that it hadn’t, but the driving I was doing was in heavy traffic so it wasn’t getting a chance to charge and needed regular long runs rather than stop starts). What they all have in common is a sense of understated competence. Not ‘look at how wonderful I am’ but ‘righty-ho, we’ll soon have this sorted out.’
It strikes me that the year we’ll soon be seeing the end of has left us with a lot of things that need sorting out, so I’m more grateful than ever for all the behind the scenes heroes. You undoubtedly know some, and you probably are far more of one than you realise yourself. So here’s hoping that 2025 will be a year when we value people like that more highly than footballers and actors and self-appointed influencers.
This weekend I shall be getting the parcels all sorted out after retrieving them from their hiding places. Don’t worry, I have a list of where I hid them, and with any luck not too many of them have been moved. My shopping is done, my cards are sent, my menu plans are made, and my Christmas snowman embroidery is finished, and here it is to show you.
I haven’t decided if I’ll frame it in a hoop as the instructions say or frame it with some pretty fabric, quilt it and make it into a banner but I’ve enjoyed doing it as much as I have my embroidered advent calendar. Only a few more squares to go on that, and then I’ll be able to show you that as well.
Till then, whatever you have to do, whenever you’re doing it, remember the saying from my favourite fridge magnet. “She needed a hero, so she became one.” We all do that, so perhaps we can find time to spend five minutes being proud of what we’ve achieved this year? Go on, try it. I bet it’s al lot more than you think.
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