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 …
Category archives: Moments
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 …
A Christmas Carol: Christmas crafting
I have been deliberating about the best way to put this. I could have said ‘making your own decorations’, but that felt rather similar to an earlier post, so I went with crafting instead. Crafting is big business, of course. People will pay good money for hand-crafted this and hand-made that. Which is good, too, …
A Christmas Carol: buying presents
When it comes to Christmas present buying, I seem to have lost my mojo. It wasn’t always so. I don’t want to adopt the Scrooge approach. I read a bit today about Saint Nicholas, and his frequent and anonymous gift giving. That seemed like a good thing. At the same time, I seem to have …