A recent visit to a large supermarket had once again made me realize just how difficult a time of year we are in. Although the festive season was far from over, I couldn't find much of the colorful splendor that you could see in many other stores. Here in this shop, the focus was clearly on winter, which can sometimes be quite unpleasant in these latitudes.

Wie üblich ging am Ende wieder alles viel zu schnell. Zuerst schien alles noch so weit weg zu sein, aber dann war es auf einmal doch schon Heiligabend und das frohe Feste war voll im Gange. Nun ja, bei uns hier zu Hause herrschte dann zwar doch nicht ganz so viel Trubel, aber doch bedeutend mehr als in den meisten Häusern um uns herum. Weihnachten mag hier in Japan vielleicht nicht das wichtigste aller Feste sein, aber wir haben es trotzdem geschafft, ein wenig besinnliche Stimmung aufkommen zu lassen.

Am heutigen Heiligen Abend braucht man eigentlich gar nicht so viel Worte zu verlieren. Es ist einfach mal nur Zeit, um runterzukommen und um sich zu besinnen. Das Tagewerk ist vollbracht und endlich sind alle zu Hause. Zumindest an diesem Abend und in dieser Nacht schiebe ich die Gedanken an alles andere ganz weit weg und ergebe mich einfach dieser so besonderen Stimmung, die an diesem Tag anheim ist.

The year is slowly winding down and, in terms of the calendar, we are now in winter. But one last short walk a few days ago almost took me back to fall, at least as far as the scenery was concerned.Yes, it was cold and wet, but I still wanted to walk my favorite route once more this year. I had to be quite careful to avoid the many puddles around, but I had a really good feeling about it. I wanted to see everything one more time before it all turned really white.

Fortunately, some things repeat themselves, something you can experience again and again, especially at this time of year. As the year draws to a close, many people are pulling out the old traditions that they haven't had time for in recent months and are longing now for some peace and consistency.

When you drive through the countryside these days, you often spot white patches in the fields that seem to be moving around. And if you take the trouble to look more closely, you soon realize that these are groups of birds excitedly going about their business.