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 …
Category archives: Travel
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: 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: 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 …
Q is for quiet
Sometimes, it takes the removal of something for your found item to emerge. For me, it’s rediscovering quiet. Back from a week away, all together, the house is quiet. I notice it. A week in a big city – much bigger than ours. A flat at the back of a building – quiet, yes, but there …