It’s one of those jobs. Some love it, others hate it, and some will volunteer in shopping centres to help others with it. Some people have to wait till their other half is out of the house to get underway. Others get underway with paper and tape when the kids are in bed. Wrapping presents …
Monthly archives: December 2013
A Christmas Carol: Christmas music
Sooner or later, you see, it draws you in. You may fight it – you may even choose to write about it, and take three different attempts to express it. Sooner or later, the Christmas music goes on. You find yourself hovering over the iPod, the CD rack, whatever your musical set-up. All of a …
A Christmas Carol: decorating the tree
There is a health warning that comes with writing about Christmas trees. I feel I need at least a couple of caveats to say who I am in writing this (and who I’m not): I’m not a Christmas tree decorator: fresh with new ideas and seasonal themes. (I quite like the odd blue tree, now …
A Christmas Carol: Christmas scents (old and new)
What evokes Christmas for you is so closely tied to your own culture: the sights, the sounds. And the smells. Given that our brain links scent to memory in such a powerful way, often a key part of the season is the smells. That’s why supermarkets stock bottles of ready-made mulled wine, and much more …
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A Christmas Carol: secret Santa
There are many phrases used at this time of year that can bring you out in a cold sweat. And I suspect ‘secret Santa’ is pretty high up on the list. For those who have not encountered the phrase, this is the notion of buying something for someone else in a group. A price limit …