We’re getting festive
here with some special peeps and today we get
Christmassy with
Paula Harmon
Hello Paula
Please tell us a little
about you and if you are a reader, Blogger or author.
Thank you for welcoming me. I am an author of
three books and have a website on which I post pieces of writing. I was born in
north London but prefer my life as a country girl, which began at
eighteen months when my family moved to Bedfordshire and then trailed slowly
westwards from small town to village before settling in South Wales when I was
eight. At eighteen, I one to university in West Sussex before settling in
Gloucestershire and then, when my children were small, moving south again. I
have lived in Dorset for twelve years, which is the second longest I’ve lived
anywhere. It means I feel a little rootless and a bit of an observer, but on
the other hand, at least I’m not afraid of change! I work full-time so I have
to write when I can find time. My job involves a fair amount of travel and
trains consequently turn up in a lot of my writing. I’m married with two
teenage children. I’m constantly battling to keep on top of things at home, but
on the other hand, writing and reading are more interesting that housework. My
failures at keeping house feature in my sillier short pieces too, mainly as a
battle between a bad housewife and the laundry fairies. You’ll have to read
them to find out who wins.
What is your favourite
Christmas memory?
Every year, until I was about twelve, we had
Christmas dinner at my great-aunt and great-uncle’s house in Berkshire. The
extended family was there and I think one year there must have been twenty of
us round a selection of tables in the hall which was the biggest space in this
old farmhouse. Including myself, my sister and our second cousins-once-removed,
there were seven children. We were surrounded by a selection of parents,
grandparents, one great-uncle and a few great-aunts (of varying degrees of
scariness). Dinner was the main event and beautifully cooked by great-aunt H
and her daughter who is technically a second cousin, but I always call her Aunt
A. I have some lovely photographs of us crammed round the tables, which I
naturally can’t find at the moment. Afterwards, the children were expected to
perform by singing carols or anything else we could come up with and then we
all played parlour games, like charades and so on. It was all rather
old-fashioned but so warm and happy. I don’t actually remember any present
giving, because it was rather less important than all the delicious food and
the general running about with the others.
What is your favourite
Christmas food?
Mmm, tricky. I think it would have to be
turkey because we only have it at Christmas, but it needs all the trimmings
too. My dad, for reasons best known to himself, always made zabaglione at
Christmas and we ate it with our Christmas pudding - which is my second
favourite thing. I haven’t made it myself, perhaps I should do it this year!
What is your favourite
Christmas song?
Oh again, it’s so hard to choose. ‘Little
Drummer Boy’ reminds me of my first nativity play at school and I’ve always
loved its message: what’s in your heart is more important than what’s in your
wallet. Of more modern songs, ‘Fairytale of New York’ has a wonderful
poignancy, which conjures up dreams freezing in the snow. I always want to
think the ‘characters’ in the song managed to find a happy ending somehow. As a
child, my sister and I used to go carol singing with friends and our favourite
was ‘Angels from the Realms of Glory’ because we used to compete to see if we
could make it through to the end of Gloooooooooria without taking a breath
while waiting for the householders to open the door and give us sweets or
preferably money.
What is your favourite
Christmas photo? Please tell us why
I have a lovely one of my children aged about
two and three cuddled up with Father Christmas. They a little perplexed,
because there seemed to be a tiny chance that Father Christmas was actually
Grandad in disguise but they were so excited anyway, that the presents he
brought weren’t really too important. However, I’ve picked a photo which I
found in a jewellery box one of my great-aunts left me. There weren’t any
jewels unfortunately, but there were some photographs including ones of this
family Christmases. Seeing us all frozen in time brought back such memories.
The photograph is of me (on the left) and my sister in the Christmas dresses my
mother had made us.
Thank you so much for asking me to take part.
You can find Paula at all
of these…
My website is www.paulaharmondownes.wordpress.com - this has writing both serious and humorous and links to my books
which also combine humour and seriousness.
My
twitter account is @paula_1964
My
instagram account is https://www.instagram.com/paulaharmondownes/
Please come back tomorrow to find out what makes Liz Taylorson Christmas Christmassy
Please come back tomorrow to find out what makes Liz Taylorson Christmas Christmassy
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