A Christmas Card From Scotland.

A Merry Christmas from the snowy highlands. An Teallach mountain ridge from Dundonnell.

And a merry Christmas from Glasgow. George Square and the City Chambers.

Christmas Greetings to you all from Dunkeld. Perthshire. Near the excellent fish and chip shop.

The Christmas view from Stirling.

 Best wishes from the Clyde Auditorium.

Stirling's Thistle Centre.

And Glasgow's Hydro.

From Nelson Mandela Place. Glasgow. And from St George's- Tron Parish Church in the city centre.

A festive greeting from Aviemore, outside their excellent fish and chip shop. There's a food theme developing here. Well, you cant have Christmas without a full table of grub in front of you and turkey's so last year isn't it? We always stop in either Dunkeld or Aviemore at night for sustenance on our trips up north to see the reindeer in the Cairngorms.

Best Wishes From Sauchiehall Street to everyone, everywhere.

Aviemore Centre lights. I guess we should have an appearance from Santa now. A wise guru dispensing gifts to the masses. Missed the real guy so Graeme will have to stand in.

 The Smiddy Hut at Dundonnell.

Inside Santa's Grotto. Can you spot the little Ghost of Christmas Past in the Photo?

I suppose at Christmas we should also celebrate the original message. It's not just about presents and the ever increasing cost every year.
Is it about Jesus then? Well ,yes, but it's also about his message isn't it? That's the real reason why families gather round the table at Christmas, even if sometimes, when it's over, you are glad to see them all leave again and regain some peace on earth after the washing up :o)
I missed the three wise men so maybe these three travellers will do instead. Well, They have beards.

All over the world families meet up at Christmas and it should be a time of satisfaction and joy but in many cases, with expectations soaring so high, a few tears are also inevitable.

Family ties are what really matter though, when all the commercial hype is unwrapped and emptied into the bin for another year.

Canada Goose sitting on eggs. Protecting and looking after the things you value most are what it all boils down to in the end. Presents and cards are just the smoke and mirrors show we've all been increasingly conned into accepting to make other people wealthy. The game we all play. Earning money just to spend it again on possessions we don't really need, yet are stripping our planet bare as we sleepwalk into the future. Real riches come from within as everyone knows.

Remembering the simple things in life are what matter most in society. Fun, somehow making opportunities to get back in touch with our increasingly distant and suspicious community at large without jeopardizing anyone's safety, sharing good times together.... building memories that last longer than a few years. ' It's a wonderful life?'  Well, an isolated or unhappy childhood creates more monsters than a united one, that's for sure. Empathy is the key to laying the foundation stones in any human tower of babel, without which it will fall.

That must be what its all about for everyone? To feel a part, to be loved in some way, and to feel you have a meaningful place in the real 'Big Society.' Best wishes for 2014.

If the lesser animals can do it and live in harmony together... why cant we? Enough food to eat, a warm shelter and an inclusive, friendly community if you behave yourself within it. Deep down that's all humans really need to thrive. It's not rocket science is it? How come we struggle so hard to get it right then? Here endeth the Christmas Message:)

In this increasingly cynical world sometimes I try, just for the hell of it, to conjure up an air of wonder, mystery, beauty, unexpected surprise or just present a different view of everyday surroundings in this blog.With or without success as that's for you to judge. This video from a Hungarian band seeks a similar path. It's never an easy thing to get the balance right between whimsy, folklore and pagan themes, while capturing a real mood of something special and unique as any number of embarrassing recent big budget films prove, and there's a couple of images in this video I'd leave out personally myself but overall a great deal of thought, effort and imagination is apparent in each of the frames to create an atmosphere that I cant imagine a more image conscious and harder edged western band achieving somehow. There's a large gothic folk revival going on in eastern Europe at the moment with a lot of unusual talented bands appearing on the scene. Not exactly a Christmas theme but enchanting and very different in its own way. Beautiful and memorable music as well. What more can you ask? A violin can be a very expressive instrument for creating a mood put in the right hands.