The Festive Season. How very merry…’Tis the season to drink your entire body mass in alcohol, convince ourselves that shrimp boats are low in carbohydrate content, try to hook up with the cute guy in the finance department and buy stupid useless gifts to show our appreciation (or lack of) to our directors.

I completely omit myself from the group of people above, save for the drinking part and thanks to my friend Mona there’s no chance of any disguised carbohydrate entering that pretty little mouth of mine either! The band and I kind of have our own little get together thing, but I’ll refrain from even trying to refer to that as a staff party!

I’m not even very keen on the Festive Season per se, I can’t put my finger on why it is, that I dislike Christmas as such, but it gives me a creeping sad feeling which I can’t explain.

So instead of feeling sorry for myself at home, I immerse myself in school visits and other charity events. Besides it being an indescribable feeling to see someone’s face light up when they hear your music, it’s also a big wake up call.

I meet people from all walks of life. Some are children from broken families, some, physically disabled, some have lost their sight, some have been unfortunate enough to fall into the trap of a life of crime or drug dependency. Life is not a pretty, concise pattern for all.

Walking down to the shops, I can see bright Christmas lights adorning my street, I can hear carols playing and I quickly remind myself that I CAN do all this and when I get home my family are going to be sitting at table with a warm dinner to share and a roof over our heads. So I am thankful, and I am thankful for the talent I’ve been given, because it allows me to draw a smile to someone else who isn’t as fortunate as I’ve been .