Festive Guest Post: Xmas Quiz with the HarperCollins Avon Team ++ Festive Giveaway

The Lovely Harpercollins Avon Team clubbed together and answered a few festive Questions and have offered a special giveaway too!!


What’s your favourite Christmas tradition?

KL: Decorating the tree

HH: I’m a traditionalist, so it’s got to be midnight mass – I love seeing in Christmas with carols and candles a-plenty.

ED: Making my whole family (of adults) watch THE SNOWMAN cartoon after going to a carol service at Chester cathedral on Christmas Eve

PK: Decorating the Christmas tree very quickly became my job (I’m a serious perfectionist). It’s now become tradition to watch me do it, and try to change it when I’m not looking.

RN: Xmas eve lunch with the family then to the pub with my friends!

JD: The carol service at my local church, anything for a bit of Christmas music! 

What books will you be reading this Christmas?

KL: Re-reading Jane Eyre

HH: The Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb – I haven’t read any of her books before but keep hearing how amazing she is. I can’t wait to get cracking.

ED: LAMENTATION by C.J. Sansom (been waiting years for it!) and THE TAXIDERMIST’S DAUGHTER by Kate Mosse 

PK: I read The Hobbit every year, so that, and probably Wuthering Heights again.

RN: I still haven’t read Wolf Hall and Bringing Up The Bodies and feeling ever more guilty about it, so probably those two. 

JD: Either Robin Hobb’s Fools Assassin, or the Silmarillion… maybe this year!

What’s your worst ever Christmas present?

KL: A clothes dryer (gran I hope you're not reading this…)

HH: Monogramed towels. I mean, really.

ED: Anti-aging eye cream from my Mum. Thanks Mum. 

PK: Make-up wipes and shampoo. Oh and Man-U socks…. I support Liverpool.

RN: I’m pretty pleased with most presents I get to be honest, though one year I got a ‘Lynx for Girls’ set. That shouldn’t even be a thing, let alone a present! 

JD: A candle in the shape of a Spaniel…. 

How last minute do you leave your Christmas shopping?

KL: Normally a couple of weeks before - I'm not too bad, but I am quite lazy and do it all online.

HH: I try to shop a month ahead but always have at least two false starts where I leave the shops without any present, but plenty of things for myself.

ED: I’m usually done by mid-December. My ex used to drive me mad by doing his on Xmas eve!

PK: I’m almost last minute. I start with 3 weeks to go but often get things on Xmas eve too!

RN: I’m generally pretty good and finish with a week to go but I’m always terrible at wrapping them…that’s almost certainly an Xmas eve job. 

JD: I always have it ready to go before mid-December!

Mistletoe or mince pies?

KL: Ooh depends on the man...

HH: Mince pies – basically anything food related at Christmas.

ED: Mistletoe – so romantic

PK: Neither. Give me a glass of mulled wine, a blanket, and a good book!

RN: Mince pies. They should be sold all year round. 

JD: Brandy Butter. It’s not an option, so I’ll make it one!







!! Festive Giveaway Time !!

The lovely Harpercollins Avon Team are offering two lucky winners a book bundle of these books each; 
- Alfie the doorstep cat
- Coming Home for Christmas by Julia Williams
- I'll Take New York by Miranda Dickinson
Enter Here:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Festive Guest Post: Xmas Q&A with .....Blogger Stephanie Carr

I'm Steph., 22, from England. Recent English Literature graduate and lover of books, makeup, swimming, live music & comedy, and tea. Currently work in admin and recently undertook a couple of weeks work experience at Penguin books, now pursuing a career in publishing.  Try to blog as often as I can!  

Blog:  ivoryandgold

"When do you normally get in the festive spirit?"

Now! It's normally around the end of November that I start feeling festive and thinking about how I could decorate my room, and what presents I need to buy. It's also the time I start playing Christmas songs all the time!

"What is a family tradition you like to have or do at Christmas?"

We don't really have any traditions; we all just spend time together and eat and watch TV and give presents. Nothing specific.

"Favourite past Christmas?"

I can't think of a specific year, but any year when both sets of my grandparents were here and all of us spent the day together.

"Do you love buying/wrapping gifts and seeing everyone's faces on Christmas day?"

YES! Choosing/buying/wrapping/giving presents is one of my favourite things about Christmas.  

"Favourite Christmas book?"

I don't really have any favourite books that are about Christmas, but books I always tend to re-read around the festive season are Harry Potter (the descriptions of the Christmas feast & decorations etc are just beautiful, and Harry Potter is such a nostalgic thing to read). This year I'll probably also re-read The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, and Jack Kerouac's On The Road because they're old favourites that I haven't read in a long time.

"What is it like on Christmas day for you and your family?"

We just have a really chilled out, lazy day.  Listen to Christmas music, watch Christmas films, eat, etc. Sometimes we all go to the pub at some point which is nice too. This year I think we're spending Christmas afternoon with friends.

"When do you normally put your Christmas tree up?"

If it were up to me I'd have it up on 1st December, but usually it's a couple of weeks before Christmas when we finally get it out and decorate it.

"Favourite Christmas movie?"

ELF! As well as Home Alone, and Uncle Buck. (Is Uncle Buck even a Christmas film? I'm not sure, but it's always on TV at Christmas).

Festive Guest Posts: I'm a real Scrooge about Christmas. . .until it gets to December by Ali McNamara

I’m a real Scrooge about Christmas…. until it gets to December!

I absolutely detest seeing Christmas cake and mince pies in supermarkets in September, and crackers and Christmas trees in my local garden centre when I’m still wearing flip-flops and a t-shirt. I feel like we’re wishing our lives away by planning something so short, such a long time in advance.

What’s happened to appreciating the joy of autumn, with its ever-changing colours and often warm, sunny weather? Much as I love Santa, I don’t want to see him before I’ve burnt Guy Fawkes!

However, once December does arrive in it’s own good time, I embrace the festive season as much as Buddy-The-Elf, and adore planning the big day. 

Our Christmas tree is always adorned with decorations that we bring out year after year, with many of them having sentimental meaning, like the decorations made by my children when they were small, and the New York ornaments bought on a festive family trip to my favourite city a few years ago.

Nothing makes me happier on a dull December afternoon than switching on the tree lights to brighten up the house, then sitting toastily in front of our open fire looking at our Christmas stockings hanging on the fireplace, while anticipating the promise of a joyful Christmas just around the corner...

Just don’t ask me to begin decking my halls with holly it in September!

Ali x

Ali’s latest book, the third in her Notting Hill series, is called From Notting Hill with Four Weddings…Actually is out now.

Follow her on Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/AliMcNamara.official
Twitter @AliMcnamara
or visit her website: www.alimcnamara.co.uk






!! Festive Giveaway Time!! 

The wonderful Ali is offering one lucky winner signed copy of her one of books with the winner picking their choice.
Enter Here:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Festive Guest Post: Xmas Q&A with . . .Megan @ Readinginthesunshine

Hello I'm Megan!

I'm 25 and I live in England. I'm married to my wonderful husband and I LOVE to read and review books. I fangirl and GUSH A LOT about books I love.

I'm very friendly and I love to chat and meet new people who love books :) So if you are on Twitter, Facebook or Goodreads then please be my friend on there and send me a message :)

http://readinginthesunshine.wordpress.com/

When do you get into the festive spirit?

I PROPERLY get into the Christmas spirit in September. This is gong to sound so bad...I feel Christmassy all year round! I am one of those people who wear Christmas jumpers in March and watch Christmas films in July. I just love Christmas so much that I like to have bits of Christmas all year round...I I have had a Christmas desktop background wallpaper on my laptop since August....ssssh don't let on that you know! 

What is a family tradition you like to have or do on Christmas?

Before Christmas Stephen and I like to get in our car in the evening, and drive around our town and the surrounding towns and have a look at everyone else's Christmas lights and decorations! I always like to watch The Snowman on Christmas day - though I absolutely sob at the Walking In The Air song! 

Favourite past Christmas?

I loved the Christmasses when I was younger and I was so amazed and caught up in the magic of Christmas - Santa, Reindeer, stockings, all of it! I think my favourite Christmas recently was last year as it was our first Christmas as husband and wife so it was a special one for us! 

Do you love buying/wrapping gifts and seeing everybody's faces on Christmas day?

Yes! I love trying to find THE PERFECT gift and it makes me happy to see smiles and joy on everyone's faces :) 

Favourite Christmas book?

The Snowman will always be my favourite! It's SO magical! 

What is it like on Christmas Day for you and your family?

It's all VERY relaxed :) We are very easy going and have a day filled with fun, food and laughter. I do the cooking and I LOVE doing that - all of our family comes round so it's lovely to have everyone together :) This year I am cooking for 9 people! 

When do you normally put your tree up?

Definitely the first weekend in December, as soon as it turns December we always want to get our decorations up! This year the first weekend closet to December is at the end of November so ours will be going up then! We bought an artificial tree a few years ago and we originally wanted the medium size but when we saw it at the shop it looked REALLY tiny, so we went for the large. What we didn't realise is that someone had messed up the signs and put the medium sign on the small tree so we got our large tree home and it was HUGE. We have a laugh every year about how we bought the wrong tree when we put it up!

Favourite Christmas movie?

The Santa Clause - it's a childhood favourite of mine :) 

Festive Guest Post: Christmas Accessories by Author Lisa Dickenson

Lisa is a former child actress and singer who appeared on the West End in 1948, and made her Broadway debut in a 1954 production of The Boy Friend, and rose to prominence starring in musicals such as My Fair Lady and Camelot, both of which earned her Tony Award nominations...

Or that might be Julie Andrews... whatever.

Twitter: @LisaWritesStuff 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lisa.dickenson.
Website: http://www.lisadickenson.com/

Quick! Decorate yourself!

So you’ve finished work, you’ve (nearly ish) done your Christmas shopping, you’ve decorated your tree and your house and your dog, but something doesn’t quite feel right… O Holy Night, you’ve forgotten to decorate yourself!  Hopefully you’re at least decked out in the finest of Christmas jumpers (if not, hop over to Abbey’s Xmas jumper-themed festive-blog-athon post here for inspiration

http://missbookworm23.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/festive-blog-athon-day-six-xmas-jumpers.html but now’s the time to really deck the halls (you) with boughs of holly (or anything else you find).

Here are my picks for last-minute adornment…

Falling star collar necklace from Accessorize – £12

http://uk.accessorize.com/view/product/uk_catalog/acc_2,acc_2.3/6822488100

OMG SANTA! boy pants from Topshop – £4.50

http://www.topshop.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=12556&catalogId=33057&productId=17483215&categoryId=209802&parent_category_rn=208533

False nails, Christmas jumper themed from River Island – £8

http://www.riverisland.com/women/gifts--cosmetics/beauty--fragrance/Christmas-jumper-false-nails-658036

Turkey Hat from Amazon – £6.99

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brown-Turkey-Christmas-Thanksgiving-Costume/dp/B002Y9ZGEA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418977456&sr=8-1&keywords=turkey+hat

Reindeer glasses from Accessorize – £3

http://uk.accessorize.com/view/product/uk_catalog/acc_14.23/6997758100

Christmas pudding slippers from New Look – £5

http://www.newlook.com/shop/shoe-gallery/view-all-shoes/brown-soft-christmas-pudding-slippers-_326658724

Tinsel bow headband from ASOS – £5.50

http://www.asos.com/ASOS/Limited-Edition-Tinsel-Bow-Headband/Prod/pgeproduct.aspx?iid=4466218&cid=9085&Rf900=1423,1487&sh=0&pge=0&pgesize=36&sort=-1&clr=Black&totalstyles=8&gridsize=4

10 Christmas stud earrings from Accessorize – £3

http://uk.accessorize.com/view/product/uk_catalog/acc_2,acc_2.4/6812849900

Glitter tights from H&M – £7.99

http://www.hm.com/gb/product/60153?article=60153-A&fromSearch=glitter&cm_vc=SEARCH 

!! Festive Giveaway Time !!

Lovely Lisa Dickenson is offering one lucky winner a copy of her book in Ecopy on itunes!
Enter Here:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Festive Guest Post: Xmas Q&A....with Blogger Kim Nash

I have run my successful book blog ‘Kim the Bookworm’ for over four years, and have read and reviewed thousands of books for publishers and authors and also have been fortunate to interview authors and meet some of my favourite authors too. 

After working in sales and marketing for a number of years, which I thoroughly enjoyed I have finally realised that working with books and helping authors is what I love to do best and using my great admin and fabulous organisational skills, I am now living my dream!

I now work with publishers and authors helping them to promote their books, raise their profiles, organise blog tours and reviews, assist with social media activity, send out newsletters and arrange events.   I work predominantly with an amazing digital and print on demand publisher Bookouture and am delighted to be working with a talented team of authors and publishing experts in a company that I know will be extremely successful.

I also review family friendly products, venues and attractions and travel at my blog Nash Reviews .  I’ve been writing for a family friendly travel site for the last four years as well as an online lifestyle magazine and am keen to develop my love for family life.  

Being a mom to 7 year old Ollie is the other job in my life and is absolutely the best job I’ve ever had! 

Combining these amazing jobs really is a dream come true for me

www.kimthebookworm.co.uk 

www.twitter.com/kimthebookworm 

www.facebook.com/KimTheBookWorm

http://nashreviews.wordpress.com/

Q) When do you normally get in the Festive spirit?

I don't normally even think about Christmas before 1st December but this year working for Bookouture and reading all the Christmas books earlier this year has made me think about it much earlier and look forward to it so much more than normal. 

Q) What is a family tradition you like to have or do at Christmas?

When we were kids, we were always allowed to open my GodMother's present on Christmas Eve, I always allow Ollie to open one of his on Christmas Eve too!

Q) Favourite past Christmas?

Now that my Mom and Dad aren't here anymore, I'd probably choose one of our family Christmases when they were and we were all together.  We lost Mom just over 8 years ago and Dad 1 and a half years ago and we always make sure we have a toast to "absent friends and family" and my sister and I share a moment as we raise our glasses!     You don't realise that one day they'll be over and I wish I'd cherished those lovely Christmases more when I had the opportunity!

Q) Do you love buying/wrapping gifts and seeing everybodys face's on Christmas Day?

Yeah, I'm one of those annoying people who want everyone else to open their presents first.  I could sit and watch everyone else for hours before I'm made to open mine!

Q) Favourite Christmas Book?

Far too many to mention but I do love a Carole Matthews festive treat!

Q) What is it like on Christmas Day for you & your family?

This year, Ollie and I will wake up and open our presents, then he will go to his Dad's for a couple of hours, while I start to prepare the food as I'm cooking this year for my sister and her family and my aunty.  Then when he comes back, all the family will be here and we may have a little Christmas tipple or two before dinner.  Love my family around me!

Q) When do you normally put your Christmas tree up?

Normally around two weeks before Christmas.  Not too early!

Q) Favourite Christmas Movie?

Miracle on 34th Street (Latest version).  I remember going to see this at the cinema with my mom when I was about 25 and we both came out knowing that Santa Claus is real after all! A wonderful film that gives me a very special time of spending time with my darling Mom!

Festive Guest Post: Xmas Q&A with ....Author Paige Toon

Paige Toon was born in 1975 and grew up between England, Australia and America. A philosophy graduate, she worked at teen, film and women’s magazines, before ending up at Heat magazine as Reviews Editor. Paige is married, has two small children and lives in Cambridge.

The Longest Holiday is her seventh book.
Thirteen Weddings & The Accidental Life of Jessie Jefferson are out now!!
Twitter - Facebook 

Q) When do you normally get in the Festive spirit?

As soon as it's 1 December, the Christmas songs come out and the decorations go up! I resist doing it any earlier – prior to this we've had Halloween and bonfire night to contend with...

Q) What is a family tradition you like to have or do at Christmas?

If we're in Australia with my parents and extended family, we always go for a walk in the park. It's usually very hot! The last time we were in England, we took the kids to a local nativity play – I'm sure it will be family tradition from now on.

Q) Favourite past Christmas?

I think it might have been a couple of years ago, which was the last one we spent in England. Six of my Aussie rellies – parents, brother and sister-in-law, uncle and partner all came over from Australia. We went to a nativity play where the youngest child in the village played Jesus, there were Christmas carols and even a donkey! On Boxing Day we went to Granchester to watch the barrel rolling - bizarre but so much fun!

Q) Do you love buying/wrapping gifts and seeing everybodys face's on Christmas Day?

Buying and wrapping presents can be pretty stressful – especially as I'm usually on deadline around this time of year. But for once, I've been pretty organised and I've already got a bunch. Still have to wrap them, but it'll be fine... I absolutely love seeing people's faces though – it makes it all worthwhile.

Q) Favourite Christmas Book?

We've got loads on the shelf. My kids' favourite is currently How Santa Really Works - it's a pop-up book and shows you behind the scenes stuff like the elves making the pressies. Very cute.

Q) What is it like on Christmas Day for you & your family?

Very traditional, whether we're in Australia with my parents or here in the UK with my husband's family. We always wake up, open presents, help in the kitchen and then sit down to a traditional turkey roast. Afterwards it's Christmas telly and general lazing around and boozing!

Q) When do you normally put your Christmas tree up?

Usually in the first week of December, although sometimes we get a tree in the last weekend of November, and then we have to pretend that it's not dead when Christmas rolls around...

Q) Favourite Christmas Movie?

Bad Santa cracked me up, and I liked Elf, too. It's not one I'd watch with my kids, though! They really enjoyed Arthur Christmas - I'd watch that again.



!!Festive Giveaway Time!!
Lovely Paige Toon is offering a signed copy of The Accidental Life of Jessie Jefferson

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Festive Guest Post: Xmas Q&A with....Blogger Paris Baker

Paris Baker is a 24-year-old bookworm from Jersey, in the Channel Islands. She writes reviews on her book blog, Paris Baker’s Book Nook, and is currently working on her first novel. She also loves penguins, pugs and rose wine.
http://parisbakerwriting.wordpress.com/

Q) When do you normally get in the Festive spirit?

A) I’m one of those horribly annoying (or awesome) people who just love it and can’t get there fast enough! My birthday is exactly 5 weeks before Christmas, so once that’s gone I normally go full-blown festive.

Q) What is a family tradition you like to have or do at Christmas?

A) We usually do a little Secret Santa which we open on Christmas Eve, which is always good fun. A few years a go, my Step-mum’s sister was proposed to as part of her Secret Santa gift, which was pretty amazing.

Q) Favourite past Christmas?

A) It’s hard to pick one, but I always love Christmasses spent with my Stepmum’s family in Southampton. There’s loads of us, we all make camp in her Mum’s house, and the atmosphere is always just amazing, the house just buzzes with festive spirit! The lounge floor literally becomes a sea of presents on Christmas day, and we play silly games and dress up in funny hats, onesies or jumpers.

Q) Do you love buying/wrapping gifts and seeing everybody's face's on Christmas Day?

A) It’s my favourite part! I really like to try and get thoughtful and personal gifts, so I love seeing people’s reaction. It’s a wonderful feeling if you can make someone happy.

Q) Favourite Christmas Book?

A) This year has seen a new favourite with Jenny Hale’s A Christmas to Remember - it’s just beautiful. I also love When I Fall in Love by Miranda Dickinson.

Q) What is it like on Christmas Day for you & your family?

A) Busy! My Mr and I have 4 sets of families to get round between us, so it varies each year. We’re usually with one set in the morning, and another in the evening, then more on boxing day! So it really differs, but it’s always fun and filled with love, and who doesn’t want four Christmasses?

Q) When do you normally put your Christmas tree up?

A) December 1st at the latest, but any time after my birthday (Nov 20th) depending when I can convince my Mr to do it!

Q) Favourite Christmas Movie?

A) Miracle on 34th Street. Richard Attenborough is the perfect Santa, and always will be. It’s a beautiful film.

Festive Guest Post: Christmas for One by Amanda Prowse + Giveaway

The Lovely Author, Amanda Prowse is here with a festive post about her new book out now Christmas for One (which is a great read btw!) 

Can you believe it? That time of year already! I think it comes around quicker the older I get. At this rate, in my sixties and seventies I’ll just about finish the washing up from Christmas dinner and it’ll be time to start peeling sprouts again! ‘Christmas for One’ is a special book for me. I’m known for writing about subjects that are often gritty and thought provoking. But Christmas is the one time of year I allow myself to write fairy stories for grown ups! 

Drawing on my own experiences of being a single mum, I wanted to explore the dilemma of meeting a man who sets your pulse raising and your heart thumping, but it’s hard to allow yourself to dive in when you have a child to consider and what is best for them always comes first.

When you are a mum, as many of my readers can testify, what you look for in a man is vastly different to what you looked for before. No longer are you interested in what kind of dancer he’ll be and whether he’ll still love you without your make-up (although these continue to be considerations!) instead you are wondering how he will gel with your children, is he kind, patient, can he build tents and make a car out of Lego? More importantly, does he understand that spontaneous means a month of planning, organising babysitters and leaving emergency numbers just in case!

Megan is a young widow with a small boy who is her whole world and just like the old saying goes, love comes along when she least expects it. 

This is a fast paced ‘will they won’t they’ love story that has all my usual twists and turns with a few surprises thrown in for good measure. It is set in London and New York and shows the city through Megan’s eyes as she visits for the very first time. As she walks in Central Park, skates at the Rockefeller Centre and dances in the snow at the top of the Empire State building, you feel yourself cocooned in a festive glow sprinkled with romance and anticipation.  The man she meets seems too good to be true and maybe he is; only time will tell. One thing is for sure, when you learn what Megan has been through, you will be rooting for her, hoping she gets the fairytale ending that she deserves. 

As for my own fairytale ending? Well, I did dive in and over a decade later it just gets better and better. And as for worrying about my son and my new man gelling? They are now a team and it’s me that has to find a way to fit in! Oh and he’s not too bad at dancing and doesn’t seem to mind me without my make-up. Phew. 

I hope this Christmas brings you peace, health and happiness. May 2015 be a fabulous year. I wish for you lots of wonderful things, and to quote from Christmas for One ‘You have to live this life and if that means following your heart and taking a risk, then that’s what you should do. If you don’t, you will regret it forever…’ so go on dive in! 

With love

Amanda x



!! Festive Giveaway Time !!
The lovely Amanda is offering a signed copy of Christmas for One up for grabs!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Festive Guest Post: Xmas Q&A with . . .Author Karen Swan

Q) When do you normally get in the Festive spirit?
Usually mid-December when my children have their nativity plays and carol concerts, although I’m a little ahead of festive schedule this year as I went to the Spirit of Christmas fair at Olympia and bought loads of gorgeous Christmas decorations for my house (we’re just coming through six months of building works) and I’m chomping at the bit for the first of December to arrive so I can put them up.

Q) What is a family tradition you like to have/do Christmas eve?

Oooh I have several! One is that we always go to a Smelly Donkey candle-lit carol service where the youngest baby in the parish is dressed as Baby Jesus and the local children dress as angels and shepherds and kings. Best of all is that a real donkey is brought into the church; Usually it’s remarkably placcid but the year before last, it upstaged everyone by having a bit of a temper tantrum which was highly amusing.

I also spend the week before Christmas baking a gingerbread house for each of my children (which does drive me to the brink of insanity) and when we get back in from the Smelly Donkey, I throw a lasagne in the Aga; Whilst it’s cooking, the children decorate the gingerbread houses with sweets, I stuff the turkey and we sing 1940s and 50s Christmas songs very loudly. My favourite song is called ‘Let It Snow’, which is particularly apt for my book this year.

And the very last thing my children do before going to bed - after putting out a plate of snacks for Father Christmas and the reindeer - is they climb into their stockings for a photograph. I made their stockings for each of their first Christmases and they were so huge when they were babies. Now, my eldest - who is 12 - can only get one leg in it. It’s become a sort of marker for how much they’ve grown in that year.

Q) Favourite Christmas Book?

If it’s not too immodest to say one of my own books, I’d have to nominate Christmas At Claridges. The tree scenes, the ball at her feet… I was so there in that moment. It gives me goose bumps every time I read it.

Q) How do you feel when your writing your Christmas books in Summer?

Actually, one of the very few advantages of writing two books a year is that my timetable has shifted so I’m now writing my Christmas book over the winter and my summer book in the summer, doing the edits for each in spring and autumn respectively. If I’m a bit stuck, it’s so much easier looking out of the window and having the corresponding season looking back at me. Having said that, when I’m actually fully in the flow of writing, I don’t see what’s in front of me anyway as the story runs like a film through my mind and overwrites reality. I also make a point of only writing about places I know personally, so even if I was writing the book in the Maldives (I wish!) I would still be able to conjure Zermatt and the snowy Matterhorn, no problem.

Q) Do you love buying/wrapping gifts and seeing everybodys face's on Christmas Day?

Oh yes! Completely. It’s absolutely the best part as far as I’m concerned. All I ever really want myself each Christmas is a new pair of cashmere socks. Beyond that, I’m all about the giving. it’s such a thrill to know you’ve got it right. I’m famous in our family for ‘having to see your face’ when a present is opened. It’s not about the gift per se, it’s the happiness you bring in that moment.

Q) What it is like on Christmas Day for you & your family?

Well, thankfully it’s a little shorter than it used to be! We used to have to tell the children not to come in to us before six am, now it’s a more natural wake-up call from seven thirty onwards. I do ask the kids not to open their stockings in their rooms as I - of course - like to see their faces, so we go downstairs to the drawing room and open presents in front of the fire. Again, I have my Christmas songs playing, my husband and I must have tea in our hands (the children nibble their gingerbread houses for breakfast), the dogs get over-excited with all the wrapping paper being thrown about…It’s chaotic and noisy and wonderful. I cook the turkey overnight in the Aga so there’s always that wonderful aroma when we come down. If possible, we try to delay opening the presents under the tree until at least lunchtime, but of course the children are just bursting so it’s usually more like eleven am! If the weather allows, we go for a big walk on the forest with the dogs. I’m very aware that these are the golden years of our family Christmases and I treasure every moment of it.

Q) When do you normally put your Christmas tree up?

Usually the second weekend in December, in time for the nativity plays, but I think it could well be the first of December this year. After months of my house being a building site, I am beyond desperate to reclaim my home and beautify it!

Q) Favourite Christmas film?

When I was little, it was The Wizard of Oz, bizarrely.  It’s nothing to do with Christmas at all, of course, but it always seemed to be on so now it’s Christmassy for me, by association. For proper Christmas, I do love It’s A Wonderful Life - last year, we broke with tradition and spent Christmas in a glorious chalet in the Swiss Alps and it was just magical watching it, flopped on the  squashy sofas, log fire crackling with snow-capped peaks outside the window…  

Karen Swan began her career in fashion journalism before giving it all up to raise her three children and an ADHD puppy, and to pursue her ambition of becoming a writer. She lives in the forest in Sussex, writing her books in a treehouse overlooking the Downs. Her first novel, Players, was published in 2010, followed by Prima Donna and Christmas at Tiffany's in 2011.

You can find Karen at;
Twitter: @KarenSwan1
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KarenSwanAuthor




!! Festive Giveaway Time !!

The Lovely Karen Swan is offering one lucky winner a copy of her new book Christmas in The SnowSorry but this is giveaway is UK only

a Rafflecopter giveaway