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Everybody wants it to snow at Christmas... don't they?
Asta's plane touches down in Ireland as the first flakes of snow begin to settle.
As the weather worsens it turns what should be a flying visit in to a snowed in Yuletide with her chaotic family.
Asta fled her childhood village years ago, with a secret hidden deep within her. That secret is now a fiesty sixteen year old - Kitty - who's keen to meet her long lost relatives. It seems there are many family mysteries waiting to be unwrapped, along with the presents under the tree...
Missing the man she left behind in London, yet drawn to a man she meets in Ireland, Asta is caught in an emotional snowstorm.
Maybe this Christmas, Asta will find a cure for her long-broken heart?
Top Ten Presents Not To Give
Christmas is a holly-strewn mine field. As you dash from
shop to shop, panic buying and desperately trying to remember just how old your
godchild is, take a moment to calmly survey the landscape, so you don't make
the mistakes below.
1 'IMPROVING' PRESENTS
Christmas should be about fun and games and too much
food; it should not be about preaching to your friends and family. So
don't give your best mate a diet book. Don't give your mother a cookery course.
And definitely don't hand your other half a DVD of Fifty Shades of Grey with
written instructions to fast forward to specific points and take notes...
2 VALUE FOR MONEY PRESENTS
Now is not the time to count the pennies! At least, it's
not the time for people to see you counting them. Damaged packaging screams sale
bargain just as surely as a diary for last year or felt tip set with
missing colours.
3 HOME MADE PRESENTS
Unless you're Nigella, the truffles you make won't look
like the picture with the recipe; they'll look like what you find on the floor
of a rabbit hutch. Knitted items show you care, but they also show how bad you
are at knitting. You could sew initials on a handkerchief, but you'd have to travel
back in time to find somebody who uses one.
4 INAPPROPRIATE PRESENTS
Your boss with a drinking problem probably shouldn't
take that bottle of single malt. Better not give your newly heartbroken sis a
Mr & Mrs board game. Gardening gloves are of little use to the man who
lives in the flat above you.
5 RE-GIFTED PRESENTS
If you didn't want them, chances are nobody else will
either. That notebook with a cute kitten on the cover won't have improved by
spending a year in your loft, and the oversized beads that are more chain store
than Chanel won't appeal to your friends any more than they do to you. If you
must re-gift, make sure you label the presents you stow away with the name of
the giver, in case you find yourself giving that flammable fake fur throw back
to the same stingy cousin who originally gave it to you.
6 OUTDATED TECH
The moment you get your paws on the latest gadget it's
already half way out of date. This doesn't mean you can hand on your obsolete
phones or music systems. Couture ages well, iPhones not so much.
7 LIVESTOCK
A kitten is a fluffy bundle of commitment and even if
you know the kids of the house desperately want a cat or a dog or a, umm,
terrapin, it doesn't mean the adults are on board with the scheme. Unless
you're prepared to go round and walk it/wash it/feed it, don't buy anything
that breathes.
8 CLOTHES
Unless you know the recipient very well (i.e. you're
related to them or you sleep with them) giving clothes can backfire. Sizing is
a minefield - prepare for your best friend to ignore you until February if you
guesstimate her as a size fourteen when she's only a twelve.
9 EDUCATIONAL GIFTS FOR CHILDREN
Give 'em a break. It's Christmas Day! The little ones
should be off their heads on E numbers, being alternately cuddled and told off
as they weep over missing batteries and demolish brand new toys. They should not
be hunched over jigsaw puzzles of the British Isles.
10 PRESENTS THAT AREN'T PRESENTS
If you've ever seen the dejection on a teenager's face
as they tear open an envelope to find it contains not a cheque but a picture of
the goat you've bought on their behalf for an African village you'll know what
I mean. Virtuous gifts make you feel good and that's not the point, is
it?
Claire Sandy lives in
Surrey with her husband and daughter and dogs. Before she wrote books, she made
radio jingles and sold wool (not at the same time). Now she has her dream job
as a novelist, having already written What Would Mary Berry Do? and A
Very Big House in the Country.
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