A Merry Little Christmas (39 page)

Shop online to avoid the crowds.

Get the children to write Christmas lists in September so you have plenty of warning.

Get the kids to decorate the tree and don’t worry about how it looks.

Forget about perfection and concentrate on fun.

Try to get early nights before the big day.

Decorate the table a few days before, shut the door and forget about it till Christmas Day.

Minimise present buying by doing Secret Santa for the adults.

Remember it’s one day a year, and you don’t want to waste time being stressed...

Cooking time 6-7 hours

you will need:

1 Ib seedless raisins

6oz chopped/shredded suet

4 oz sultanas

8oz brown sugar

8oz breadcrumbs

8oz apples (grated)

8oz flour

8oz carrots (grated)

2 level teaspoons

1 tablespoon marmalade

baking powder

1 teaspoon mixed

1tbs black treacle

spice

½ pint milk/ale

½ gratednutmeg

2 eggs

1 Wash & prepare fruit

2 Mix breadcrumbs with sieved flour, baking powder, spices, suet and sugar

3 Add apple & carrot and mix in raisin and sultanas

4 Mix together marmalade, treacle, milk and eggs

5 Add to dry ingredients and mix thoroughly to softly dropping consistency

6 Thoroughly grease two 1½ pint pudding basins and divide mixture equally between them

7 Place a round of greaseproof paper on top of each basin and cover with aluminium foil

8 Steam for 6-7 hours over gentle heat replenishing water as required (VERY IMPORTANT IF YOU DON’T WANT BOWL TO CRACK!)

9 Drain puddings well and store in cool dry larder

Do not make this pudding more then 2 weeks before required.

When ready to use steam for 2 hours.

Bad
– Tough As in he’s a bad boy (So not James, then? Mum)

Beef
– Gossip (What Paige spends most of her time doing. Mel)

BF
– Best Friend (Paige’s changes every week. Mel)

BFF
– Best Friend Forever (At least I have friends. Paige)

Douche
– Idiot (Like my big sis? Paige. Shut up, Paige. Mel)

LOL
– (Hint, Mum it doesn’t mean LOTS OF LOVE. Paige) Laugh out loud

Frape
– when someone takes over your Facebook page and writes rude stuff about you. (Yes, Paige? Mel)

Peng
– Fit (As in that boy you fancy on the bus, Paige? Mel No. Paige)

Reem
– Supreme, as in he’s well reem (As in ALL of One Direction. Paige. Ugh. Mel)

Stack
– trip over. Usually your own feet. (Mel does that A LOT. Paige)

Swaggerdon
– Someone who thinks they’re all that. (As in Mum. Paige. That’s a good thing? Mum)

the prequel to A Merry Little Christmas

Marianne sat back in the comfort of Luke’s brand new BMW M5. Every inch of its sleek leather interior screamed luxury, while the latest technogizmos pronounced its top-of-the-range, worthy-of-praise-from-Jeremy-Clarkson status. She glanced at Luke, who oozed confidence with practised ease as he drove with one hand on the wheel. Marianne sighed happily …

‘What?’ he said, laughing at her.

‘Just pinching myself,’ she replied. ‘I still can’t believe all this is real.’

‘You are daft,’ said Luke grinning, before he accelerated into the wind.

It wasn’t the first time she’d had to pinch herself since she and Luke had got together. His charm and looks had entranced her from the start, even though she had felt thoroughly out of his orbit. In fact, Luke was so far removed from the sort of man she tended to fall for, the strength of her feelings had taken her by surprise. But there was something mesmerising about the combination of hazel-brown eyes and fair hair, which swept back off a strong, classical-looking face.

Under normal circumstances Marianne would never have met someone like Luke, but, thanks to Marianne’s two rich friends, Carly and Lisa, who still seemed to earn ridiculous amounts of money in the City, even with the credit crunch, she had found herself on a skiing trip during February half term. Her teacher’s salary wouldn’t usually have stretched to that, but at the last minute Carly had pulled out and generously donated her space to Marianne, who then spent a dizzyingly intoxicating week hitting the slopes and revelling in an après-ski environment she could hardly have imagined being part of in her normal life.

She’d met Luke on the first day when, overcome with nerves, she’d fallen flat on her back in front of a group of more experienced skiers. Their laughter hadn’t been unkind, but Marianne was already feeling like a fish out of water in the company of these sophisticated beautiful people. She was so far removed from her own world, and they knew it. Now she felt that she’d proved herself for the ugly-duckling klutz she undoubtedly appeared to them.

Luke was the only one who hadn’t laughed. Instead, he’d swept her up in those strong arms and offered to teach her to ski. Throughout that week he’d treated her with tenderness and affection, combined with infinite amounts of patience at her obvious lack of skiing ability. Marianne had been hugely grateful for his kindness. The fact that Luke was incredibly good looking, charming and clearly fancied the pants off her had also been a great help. He made her feel like a graceful swan, even though she knew the ugly duckling was hidden away somewhere, underneath the ski gear. Being with him was a magical, dazzling, life-changing experience.