Christmas countdown day 17: the shadow under the Christmas tree

The challenge of spending time with the family at Christmas.

Roger Bretherton

Roger is a Clinical and Coaching Psychologist.

A light green pine tree stands amidst dark green forest and its black shadows

Evgeni Evgeniev on Unsplash.

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The Christmas Countdown

It’s the season to be jolly, stressed, and all round Christmassy. On the Seen & Unseen Aloud podcast, we’re here for you with our Aloud Christmas Countdown!

Every day in December, we’ll drop some of the best seasonal content from Seen & Unseen Aloud. From how to survive Christmas, reviews of the best Christmas movies and the origin story of Santa Claus.

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Seen & Unseen Aloud

2 June 2025

1 min read

Semi-colons; Race Across the World, and the Book

New episode: pause for some grammar, enjoy that race, and a good book.

Natalie Garrett

Natalie produces and narrates The Seen & Unseen Aloud podcast. She's an Anglican minister and a trained actor.

A man sits on a pier intently reading a book on his lap.

Ben White on Unsplash.

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About the episode

In this week's mix we mourn the demise of the semi colon (and all it represents) with Paul Bradbury; Lauren Westwood gets lost in the drama of BBC's Race Across the World and Belle Tindall asks why a book has changed the world (and her).

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Since Spring 2023, our readers have enjoyed over 1,000 articles. All for free.
This is made possible through the generosity of our amazing community of supporters.

If you enjoy Seen & Unseen, would you consider making a gift towards our work?

Do so by joining Behind The Seen. Alongside other benefits, you’ll receive an extra fortnightly email from me sharing my reading and reflections on the ideas that are shaping our times.

Graham Tomlin
Editor-in-Chief