This is for anyone who is still looking for Christmas scripts and meditations. Hunt thoroughly through the downloads section, and last Christmas's posts. Tomorrow I'll paste in some fresh monologues.

Here you must imagine a close-up of the fat, juicy geese roosting on the riverbank, canada geese, pinkfoot geese, and the ordinary white ones, all thoroughly content, well-fed, and utterly delicious.

I can't upload a photo, but here is a poem. Google St Mark's, Venice and see if you can find any of the wonderful mosaics.

NOAH’S PEACOCK
(Mosaics in St Mark’s basilica, Venice)

The look on Noah’s face says it all,
With the peacock’s tail under his arm:
How to get this creature through this porthole
And keep its lovely plumage safe from harm?

We stand in the twentieth century
And marvel at the medieval draughtsmanship,
But most of all we love the sense of humour
That brought such understanding to his craftsmanship.

Accepting the constraints of the building,
The artist has mapped out a wall of glory,
Not skimping on the fiddling and filling;
Mosaic celebration of the ancient story.

The other birds are chatting together,
Waiting quietly in pairs or in sevens;
Such detail of beak and feather;
All the commonalty of the lakes and of the heavens.

There strut the cockerels, in a group with speckled hens,
Behind them, many a goose and gander;
Harmonious domesticity; no straying, although no pens
Have fenced them here; content, too tame to wander.

A gorgeous pheasant and his pretty, speckled wife
Stand aside for Noah, by the door;
Partridges and gamebirds and much of water-life,
Teal and mallard, as though resting by the shore.

The centuries dissolve that came between us.
We share in Noah’s dilemma:
How to do the job that’s been given us
Without damaging a single feather!

The magpies are squawking: “What’s the hold-up?
Did they have to be the first in the queue?
We can’t wait until he moults. You’ve made him fold up.
Get on with it! You’ll easily get him through!”

Noah listened to God, and was willing
To build the enormous ark: Sure, no trouble!
But the challenge comes when you start filling
In the details: Get this peacock through this porthole!

By the time the sons arrive, each queuing with his wife,
Noah’s task is almost complete.
He’s loading the eagles, and the last of water-life:
Pelicans and cranes and storks, with dainty-stepping feet.

And we take good cheer from the craftsman
Who shaped his scene to its space,
To share with us the beauty of creation,
And who knew, a sense of humour has its place.

Still hoping I'll soon be able to upload photos again. Perhaps I'll go to a class and become expert myself!