On my way back from the station yesterday afternoon I saw the children from the local primary school trekking to the big assembly hall in the village for the nativity play. There was Mary, in the now-traditional floor length Frozen gown, Joseph wearing some sort of brown sack, many more than three kings with yellow …
It’s full-on headless chicken mode now as Christmas looms ever larger and my to-do lists are …. still unwritten. For someone who spends so much time writing, I am curiously averse to putting pen to paper when it comes to chores. Part of this stems from my old belief that I can easily store such …
OK, so, we’ve had a bit of a disaster this year with the Advent calendars. It wasn’t one of the usual troubles, either. I remembered to buy them in good time. I didn’t buy the wrong sort of chocolate (once we had all white chocolate, no one’s favourite – I totally blame the packaging – …
The Winter’s Tale has never been my favourite Shakespeare play. I did it for A level and it really stretched my enthusiasm for English lit. I’ve never opened the book again. But when a lovely friend said she had tickets for the new Kenneth Branagh/Judi Dench production at the Garrick Theatre in London, I couldn’t …
I always feel a sense of rush at this time of year. As darkness creeps up earlier each day, there’s usually a lengthening list of stuff I am not quite getting round to. I think it’s the effect of both Child One and Child Two having autumn/winter birthdays, and as soon as they are out …
Christmas isn’t an easy time for any woman. You see us, battling around the shops, shoulders hunched, faces grim, as we do our best to grab the stuff that will, like magic pixie dust, transform our grumpy family (and isn’t every family grumpy in this cold, dark, wet, grey December?) into a Norman Rockwell festival …
Oh no. Furbies are back! Child Two longed for one the first Christmas we were back in the UK. Naturally, in the throes of divorce/moving/constant arguing with TL, obscure Christmas list items were not top of my agenda. But Child Two’s heart was firmly set on one of these strange, alien-looking creatures. By the time …
Those lovely folk at Tesco Real Food have just done a number on me. They asked me if the kids and I would like to make a Christmassy gingerbread house. Of course I said yes in seconds flat – after all, I usually get one from Ikea and we spend a happy half hour covered …
You’re probably struggling with your Christmas wrapping now, as I am. Well, have a little look at this video, and give thanks every time you have a nice easy book to smother in reindeer paper ….. And maybe don’t try this at home?!
There are a whole lot of dates around at Christmas, aren’t there? Those strange dried-up dates in the coffin-shaped boxes, that you only see at this time of year, with the odd little plastic fork which bends as soon as it sees a solid object. Then all those unmissable dates like the nativity play, in …