The True meaning of Christmas

Its at this time of year after the annual watching of a version of "A Christmas Carol" (Patrick Stewart as scrooge and Richard E. Grant living up to what his middle initial may well stand for - Excellent), the odd mince pie and a glass of your favourite tipple that thoughts turn to what is the true spirit of Christmas.

I also feel that I should either be a member of the royal family or a member of the clergy or indeed a well respected member of the fourth estate, passing judgement on what Christmas should be.

It is in a sense what you make of it. What it is not is another day on which to compare ourselves to other people to determine whether our Christmas has been success. Long ago I worked out that it is the lot of most of us that we will never be the best at whatever we do, there will always be someone who can do it better. The consolation prize as it were is that I and you can do whatever it is our way and there is no one in this truly wonderful world who could do it quite the way we could.

That is the little bit of magic inside all of us and we can use that magic to create a Christmas that is magic to us. We may not have the biggest turkey, we may all start fighting by 10 am in the morning and we may not get anything we actually wanted for Christmas but at least it is our Christmas with our family and we all bought the magic.

Christmas will never be perfect however much money or even planning goes into it. Often it is the small inexpensive gestures that we remember in the new year. What presents do you remember from Christmas past?

One thing I love about Christmas is the carols, you cant beat a good sing along and it is one of the many things I look forward to each year. It doesn't matter whether you can sing or just shout, it is a spontaneous expression of joy and certainly clears the cobwebs from the lungs.

Tonight on Christmas Eve everyone is preparing for the big day looking forward to whatever is special for them. Father Christmas is criss crossing the sky delivering presents to the children in time for the dawn of Christmas day.

It is this spirit of giving and the belief of universal love and peace that is central to the more spiritual side of Christmas. On one day a year we think of loved ones and strangers and look to make the world a better place in the coming year.

It is a beautiful place this world of ours.

To all my readers, Merry Christmas to you and your families. The joys of the season to you and yours.

Snow Watch leg 1 part 2 update

Well nothing yet, I have had reports from reporters in Maidenhead, High Wycombe and London of snow showers during the day. In Oxfordshire the weather for the day has been wet and cold. The whitest stuff I have seen was last nights sleety hail.

However if the met office had big chuffing alarm bells they would be ring all over the shop. From tonight through tommorrow morning there is a weather warning out for Oxfordshire of "Be aware" with a moderate risk of severe weather. Rain showers will turn increasingly to snow. Accumulations of up to 5 cm are likely.

Call me a snow sceptic but I will wait and see what happens, at the moment it looks like leg 1 will be a damp squib.

Snow Watch 09/10 early start with a bit of unconfirmed light snow

Yes I do declare the Snow Watch 2009/2010 season open. This may be the last season in Chadster, North Oxfordshire as the snow watch base of operations may move HQ at some point next year.

Well I was driving home from work this evening in what can be best described as hailish sleet. It was white aand slightly sleety with a hint of hardness. I would not class it as snow as visibility remain good, there was no sign of floating flakes and snow generally does not make a noise when it hits the floor.

As is tradition in the first possible sighting of snow in a season we look back at the earliest recorded snowfall in Chadster.

The 2008/09 Season started on the 28 October with significant snowfall on January 19 2009.

The 2007/08 Season started on the 18 November with significant snowfall on April 06 2008.

So this season is a late start, does this mean we could be in for lots of heavy snow. Watch this space. This intrepid snow watch reporter will report live from Chadster throughout the season.

The met office currently has a "be aware" notice out for eastern counties for Thursday and Friday of this week. There is a moderate risk of severe weather with local accumulations of between 5 to 10 cm of snow.

Avid snow watchers will know that such an early warning can quickly turn into a warning for blizzard or just as equally into a day of sunshine and showers. Watch the skies.