Merry Christmas to all

The Times published a series of Victorian jokes this morning including What you think about the woman with a past? Answer At Christmas, she is most likely to be won by a man with a present.
It raised a smile here.

I hope everyone has a lovely Christmas and many thanks for reading my blog this year.

Merry Christmas

Twas the night before the night before Christmas and not a creature was stirring -- particularly not a mouse! As the attic is right next to our bedroom, I was pleased to discover one more greedy mouse exterminated. Various stocking stuffers were replaced yesterday...and are away from mouse nesting making...
When the kittens grow up, they are going to be kept busy. Luckily they are already fond of chasing catnip stuffed mice.
Heathcliff and Mr Darcy are also fond of scaling the Christmas tree and had to be removed several times.
The puppies have attempted to investigate packages...
Chaos and confusion reign.

Hopefully everyone is safe and well this holiday season. And as my sister introduced me to this song (she even went and found me a cd with this on!) and it does remind me of family far away and Christmases spent with them:

Merry Christmas

It is Christmas eve and everyone is busy getting things ready for the Big Day tomorrow.

The presents have all been wrapped, the cards delivered and all that remains is to wish everyone who happens on this blog -- a Merry Christmas.

Many thanks for all your support this year.

May 2009 be absolutely fantastic.

Winter solstice

We are now deep into mid-winter. Since time immemorial, many civilisations had mid winter festivals or festivals of light to coincide with the solstice. There is a theory (and it makes sense to me) that Stonehenge is not a mid summer site but a mid winter site as once you know when mid-winter happens, you can count the days/moon cycles to planting. Mid summer does not tell you much about the planting/harvesting cycle.

The reason why Christmas or the Mass of Christ's birth is celebrated when it is, is that it was offered as an alternative to Saturnalia or other light festivals. The Coptic Christians used to celebrate the feast of Christ's birth in May and this sort of date makes far more sense given when the Romans did their census taking...New Year for the Romans on the legal side of things was April. January as the start of the new year was religious.

The early Christians were quite good at providing alternative festivals and making things easier. In this case, the celebration that Christ was born to bring light into the world. The whole point was not take over fesitvals but it make it easier for new Christians...It is just through time that people began to assume that Christ was actually born on that day. And does it truly matter? It does give people a pause for thought and a chance to remember and reconnect with others. I think whichever priest first thought up the idea deserves a vote of thanks and praise as it is one of those inspired brilliant ideas that has captured the imagination and has enable people across the centuries to take time to remember the story of the nativity and what happened.

So however you celebrate, (and hopefully you do celebrate in some form), take time to think about all those people many thousands of years ago who were celebrating the same thing.

In other news:

Kate Walker brought to my attention that Mills & Boon India are running a contest to find an Indian author for the Modern line. I think this is a wonderful opportunity. Also I would urge any would be entrant to read Kate Walker's book -- 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance if at all possible as it is full of tips and hints for any would be Modern writer.

The annual Christmas wrapping fest

A roll of tape sits on my desk. Piles of wrapping paper lie in the room. It has come -- the great present wrapping day. Somehow, the role of Christmas present wrapper has devolved to me. My dh early on declared that as he never wrapped gifts professionally, he does not have to do any except mine...It has been no good me protesting that at I Magnin's mostly all I had to do was put the gift in a box and tie a ribbon and it was when I was a teenager. There again, the amount of tape he uses...
For a number of years, I tried to interest him by bringing up all the presents and wrapping after the children had gone to bed...BUT no luck. It is just easier to do it during the day with the carols on full blast and a cup of something warm by my side.
Thankfully, I only tried making my own wrapping paper one year -- potato prints on wall paper lining paper. The children were all under ten and had a great time making paper for Daddy's presents. It is though a rather messy job. Now I stick with the store bought paper.
The other snag in the system is that he likes the presents to appear as if by magic on Christmas Eve. This means not only do I have to wrap them. I have to make sure they go back to their hiding places/find new hiding places...There was the year where I forgot some of the hiding places...
The children break up from school tomorrow so the deadline is fast approaching.
Of course my characters are talking to me, whispering their stories to me, so I keep having hold that thought moments...which can be difficult when you are wrestling wrapping paper into submission...

Christmas Tree 2008

Yesterday as the builders finally removed all their bits and pieces, we trimmed the tree. For once my dh heeded my plea and bought a shorter tree. Even still, things needed to be done to it -- bottom branches cut, and the trunk trimmed so that it could fit in the Christmas tree stand. Why does putting up a tree cause so much angst? It is in tight and is not about to topple over or lean... The saga of the leaning tree has happened more times than I care to remember.

The carols were put on the cd, and the ornaments were put on. So many are old friends. The children, despite their advancing years of teenagerdom, were excited as well. A variety of ornaments have been given to each one. They were determined to put them on the tree and to make the others knew which ornament belonged to which. When it came for putting on the chocolates and candy canes, the children decided they needed to be sampled...someting never change

My youngest decided Chile the Labrador needed a friend and so took this picture. The Santa Claus was made by my mother --starting in the early1970s and finally being finished in the late 1990s...as a present for my youngest. He is now carefully stowed away and comes out at Christmas. I am not sure where his shoes have gone or his sack that used to be filled with chocolate...but it is a welcome sight and proof that projects can be finished!

The Cold is getting better but this could be because I actually spent yesterday morning in bed asleep and have been taking neat honey at regular intervals as per Nell Dixon's advice. My chest no longer feels as tight and I have actually started to think about story ideas again...

Christmas is nearly here

Christmas is still spelt deadline. The book is due on 6 January. However I have finished my refinements to QI and have done my proofs for An Impulsive Debutante.

Rereading An Impulsive Debutante was such fun and reminded me why Lottie Charlton became one of my favourite heroines. And if you liked Jack Stanton, you will love Tristan Dyvelston.

My only hope is that QI is as good. Actually with my current editor, I am certain it will be.

One thing that my editor did point out is that historicals are truly going down to 75k. So it means my current one does not have to be quite as long. And for me, it means that I have to be more careful with my word choice.

It is Christmas Eve and so here is a picture of this year's tree. The ornaments have been collected over the years and are lovingly put on. It is one of my favourite parts of Christmas.

I have sent my cards, wrapped all the presents, the food is in and my in laws have arrived, so Christmas has truly begun.

Counting Down to Christmas

It is the First Sunday in Advent and wherever you go in Britain or the US, stores are decked out in Christmas decorations and all are Counting Down to Christmas.

But who started this tradition?

The honour was claimed by one Gordon Selfridge.
And surely if any man who should be lauded for transforming the shopping experience at Christmas -- both in the uK and the US, it is he.

Selfridge was an American and first started the tradition in the Marshall Field store in Chicago. He also introduced carol singers, free gifts with purchases and generally tried to make the shopping experience pleasurable. He discovered that customers responded to the idea of Christmas and Christmas related themes. I believe he even started the whole idea of personal shoppers and gift guides.
He got his start with Marshall Fields as a stockboy in 1879, but 1890 he was a junior partner. He came over to the UK in the early 1900s(1906) and started Selfridge's in 1909. The reason hedid so is slightly murky and no one really knows the full truth but around about then Marshall Field was incorporated and there is some speculation that he was not as well treated as he thought he deserved. The department store he created was the largest built from scratch rather than by expansion.

He did not start the annual or even the fire sale, but what he did was to create the idea that shopping is aspirational. He wanted to create a desire, but he also wanted the expereince to be available to all who entered his shop -- whether it was to purchase a very expensive item or the cheapest one. he made shopping into an event for all to share. He was very keen on window displays and showing how a product might be worn or incoprporated into a lifestyle. He thought of his department store as living theatre. Because of his success at getting the public flock to his stores and stay, spending money, his ideas were copied all over the world.
Certainly when I worked as a teenager at I Magnins, it did feel like a stage set. And it was all about treating the customer right -- no matter the size of the purchase! I did gift wrapping and as long as the item was purchased from Magnins, we would wrap it in the appropriate sized box. Magnin's boxes at Christmas were always gold with I Magnin's written in deep burguny red, and tied with a burgundy ribbon. Before being placed in the box, the present enveloped in tissue paper and sealed with a gold Magnins label. It was great fun in many ways.

Anyway, love or loathe Christmas and its shopping, Gordon Selfridge's innovation appears to have worked.

Christmas Good Wishes

First of all, my friend Julie Cohen has finally had her baby. 13 days overdue but she and her dh now have him as an extra special Christmas present. It does go to show that there are happy endings as this baby is a much wanted child.

The presents are all wrapped and placed in a holding area. My dh does not like having presents out until late Christmas Eve. I do. We compromisae. He puts my presents and presents we get from other people under the tree. The rest don't come out...until after the children go to bed.
The stockings are hanging ready. The younger two will be reading at the Village Crib service. The youngest is excited about this.The middle is doing it under sufferance. The eldest has bailed but he read at the Village carol service last week. Even though the Aga is not working (long story) and won't be working until after New Year's, we now have a table top hob with half sized oven and will have a hot Christmas lunch. Luckily I had plannedon ham, rather than a full sized turkey!

As luck would have it, my muse is speaking, and I have the next Viking basically plotted. But I am obeying my dh (and my editor) and not writing over Christmas.

I want to wish each and everyone of you a Merry Christmas and a joyous 2007. Dare to dream your dreams, work hard at achieving then and they may come true.