December is here. Despite the unprecedented challenges of the year the seasons have changed regardless. The skies of California are still cornflower blue, especially in the Tahoe mountains where we’re living for a few months, but winter has arrived. There’s …
It’s Christmas Eve, Christmas is so close you can almost touch it. Homes everywhere are bedecked with Christmas finery, refrigerators bulge with Christmas indulgence, for most of us the shopping’s been done and the presents wrapped. Where did you shop …
Do you remember being a small child and the wonder and magic of Christmas? The excitement and anticipation and most of all the magic; Father Christmas and reindeer landing on snow covered roof tops, woodland creatures creating their own celebrations, …
The Christmas story continues: The little girl turned away from the Christmas tree, leaving her sister to introduce herself to the much wanted dolly and bumped into her father as he finally made it down the stairs. Noticing her serious, …
A little girl rolled over in bed, gingerly glancing at her bedroom window to see whether daylight was peeking through. It was still dark and the house was wrapped in silence. Disappointed and with no idea of the time she …
Travel France Online has just published Shutters and Sunflowers’ article about Christmas Puddings as part of a wonderful collection of Christmas wishes from all over France put together by Diane de la Guillermie, this fabulous website’s founder. For me, as a child, just as it …
Boxing day is an English tradition, dating back to the Middle Ages. It is also St Stephen’s Day and has been a public holiday in England since 1871. There is much debate as to where it gets its name. Some …
The time next week it will be Christmas Eve, the night before Christmas, probably the most magical night of the year. One when children everywhere (big ‘children’ too) really want to ‘believe’. Excited, eager, little faces press their noses to …
As a child, just as it is now and probably has been for several generations, the days before Christmas were always busy, collecting greenery to decorate the house, finding the tree, buying and wrapping presents, writing cards, standing in endless lines …
I grew up in a family with an abundance of Christmas traditions, many from my incredible grandmother, my father’s mother, who, despite having twelve children never set a table without a fresh flower and who could make the simplest of …
