Season’s Greetings

Hope you’re all well and not feeling too stressed by the end-of-year madness 😊! In England everyone is asking, “Are you ready for Christmas”, meaning have you done your Christmas shopping, bought your tree, decorated the house and written those all-important Christmas cards.

Well I can tick all those boxes as I really like to enjoy this time of year (including three important family birthdays!) and try to spread some good cheer to those who are not so happy for whatever reason. I follow nearly all the traditions you can read about here:

However, I only sing Christmas carols to myself as I really CANNOT sing (ask my kids) despite being told by a choir leader that EVERYONE can sing – it is not true! I really miss the English pantomimes – a theatrical entertainment, mainly for children, which involve music, topical jokes and slapstick comedy. Pantomimes (a false friend as they are very loud!) have a long history and are based on a fairy tale or nursery story with the main Prince played by a famous actress and the elderly dame by a famous actor. When I was a child, you hoped you would be picked to go on stage and get a gift, but of course, that would not happen now.

And of course there will be the first King’s Speech which is very popular and normally broadcast at 15:00 on Christmas Day (25 December). There was always an argument at home about whether to eat Christmas Dinner before or after this all-important speech!

Every country has its traditions and I would be interested to hear about yours, whether you celebrate Christmas or not.

Of course we’re all dreaming of a white Christmas and I still chuckle over the Christmas joke that “if the white runs out, I’ll drink the red” (as in wine 😊).

So this is my last blog post this year … I would like to wish you all Season’s Greetings and a really healthy and happy 2023. I hope you can all relax at the end of the year and I look forward to connecting again in 2023 which I sincerely hope will be a year of more joy and happiness in this world.