You won’t believe this….but it’s quite peaceful here today. Everything is done. It’s snowing outside. We’re listening to Christmas music, both played on the piano by my musical daughter and on CD, reading books and relaxing. Phew. It’s great, although I did have a bit of a wobbly yesterday when my butcher (normally of a […]

I had a feeling that if I hung around long enough and didn’t really get down to Christmas baking, then someone else might just take the lead. I mean, there has to be some payback for having teenage daughters! It wasn’t that I don’t like baking, or that I didn’t want to do it, but […]

Christmas card traditions seem to vary enormously. In England as a child I dutifully gave a Christmas card to every child in my class. Not receiving a card in return was the sign of total social disaster. Someone would have to really hate you not to give the obligatory card. You could also judge your […]

When I was a little girl the fairies always brought the Christmas tree. Every morning for what was probably the whole of early December, my brother and I would race downstairs to see if the fairies had been in the night. Day after day we were disappointed, until finally the glorious morning came and we […]

It’s quite extraordinary. My efforts to scale down are certainly showing results. Can you imagine, less than a week to go until Christmas and I’ve been knitting socks. I can’t remember that ever happening before. Normally I’ve gone into the headless chicken routine by now. Not this year though. Everything is done, bar a little […]