“Well, so that is that.”

These are the words that begin W.H. Auden’s poem, For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio. It’s time to take down the tree and return the decorations and the crèche to their boxes for another year. There are still plenty of leftovers to eat, even though we no longer have the appetite for those rich foods because the Christmas feast, is, in Auden’s words, “already a fading memory” along with all the promises of the Christ Child.

There is some truth to this. Another Christmas is over and it’s time to get back to the reality of life as we know it. Here in Canada we are entering the coldest and the darkest time of the year, which impacts many of our family members, our neighbours and our friends.........

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