Like the snow, the Christmas dross is melting...

I love to go for late night walks around my local neighbourhood at this time of year. Simple semis are transformed into magical fairy castles, with sparkling lights adorning every tree.Tonight was particularly magical though, for me. I notice a different quality in the way people are decorating their houses this year. There's a subtlety about it. And in this respect, I think the volatility of the economic climate has changed things for the better. We're not taking things for granted so much and, at least the way I see it, we're caring for our resources more. There's little of the brazen Santa Claus and four reindeers in lights look this year - and there's more of the simple holly bush lit with subtle, low-power, but just-as-beautiful-because-of-it, lights.And somehow this unassuming quality has so much more power to touch the heart than the 'look at me' variety. Well my heart, anyway.