Happy Holidays everyone!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Whatever you celebrate, have fun and peace, hug the people you love, and watch cheesy movies: my basic plan. Plus, decorate the house . . . I LOVE Christmas – not the bit where I have to try not to burn dinner, but the whole cover the house with red and white things, some gold stuff, and basically, anything glittery. Thrilling!!!

Christmas outfits

Some women spend time considering their Christmas outfit – velvet sandals, and a sexy skirt? Not me. I am going for comfort and a bit of shine: I have an old sparkly sweater that is made of something definitely flammable, so as long as I stay away from any naked flames, I am sorted.

Then I can concentrate on the real job: making sure all the people I love have nice things they would not buy for themselves. And decorating the house. In November, I was in the gorgeous Enniskerry chemist and they have such nice Christmassy things. They had a wooden and grey woollen reindeer (not life-sized). Readers, I gave in. I am hiding it in case Himself decides I have totally lost the run of myself. Since then, I controlled self from buying star-shaped boxes with lip balm or even more candles. If the power goes out, I will be able to cook dinner with tealights. You can never have too many.

Embracing hygge

Christmas is definitely a time for hygge – my new fav Scandi word and it means snuggling in and I love it! I was born to be a hygge person. I have not read any books on it yet but I have seen the pictures: cosy blankets, hot chocolate, books, candles. This is so me. In fact, I am ahead of my time. I wanted to hygge when I had to go to school – double chemistry or hygge? No question. And college: cycle on old bike to college where I had to seriously consider the outlay of spending 25p on a cup of horrible canteen coffee or hygge? No brainer. Luckily, writing is pretty hygge. You can wear your duvet if you see fit, drink hot chocolate, have dogs assisting (lying in their beds and looking hungry and sad: dog specialty) and refuse to answer the door because you haven’t washed your hair for four days.

What I’m reading

I am stockpiling books for the holidays but I am bad at this. As soon as I got my hands on the proof of Jodi Piccoult and Becky Masterman, I read them. I am very bad at delayed gratification. I shall have to hide all other special ones. But the Jodi – the amazing Great Small Things, which deals with race – is a very important book. And the new Becky Masterman – I gulped it down. She is brilliant. If you like thrillers, read her first two and wait for the new one, out in March.

What do I want for Christmas?

Well, like the girls in Miss Congeniality, I would like world peace. It keeps getting further and further away. But we can help – buy your Christmas cards from charities like UNICEF or give gifts like School In A Box, which helps kids in warzones do something normal. And in a crazy, scary time, school is so blessedly normal and comforting to them. That’s my other big gift plan.

Hope you have peace and happiness, darlings,

Cathy xxx