I am intrigued by the increasing number of bloggers (and I
follow a lot of people – foodie, beauty, random…) who have been posting
Christmas present guides. This is
obviously now a Thing and so I wondered if I should do something similar.
But then I drafted a post and I realised that it was
basically my Christmas list
re-written to make it sound slightly generic.
Does your Uncle Jo like reading? Here are the books that I have enjoyed in
2015! Or even the ones that I want to read in 2016!
For the foodies in your life, what about these products that
I really like scoffing? Or how about
some new Le Creuset? Everyone (I)
loves Le Creuset.
Enjoy a bit of a tipple?
I went to this distillery in the summer and really liked the whisky!
You can't blame the bloggers. Newspapers and magazines do it every year, and blogging is just a natural extention of the print medium. It's just that I’ve always thought, if you know your
nearest and dearest so little that you have to resort to a Guardian journalist
telling you that all the well dressed men this year will be wearing cashmere
striped socks, then…well, maybe consider giving them the gift of your time and attention this Christmas. The very best
presents are the ones that mean something.
Either because they are an item genuinely coveted or because the giver
feels it has resonance.
Having said all that, just in case you are interested…
This year, my favourite books have been “The Bone Clocks” by
David Mitchell (apart from the ending – oh, the ending!), the Magicians trilogy
by Lev Grossman (Harry Potter goes to university) and “A Prayer for Owen Meaney”
by John Irving (I think Owen himself
might be one of my all time favourite characters). Ooooh, and “The Paying Guests” (because Sarah
Waters is all kinds of wonderful).
I adore Amelia Rope chocolate and am beyond excited to see
that she has started doing the pale lemon and sea salt as a truffle.
Grey’s Fine Foods sent me free stuff, so it only seems fair
to mention them again, but they genuinely have a lovely selection of Spanish
goodies and I really rated the quality of both their meat and sherry.
For entry level whisky drinking, my absolute favourite is
Penderyn. My favourite splurgier
purchase this year was Ardbeg Auriverdes.
And, having recently become vaguely obsessed with this blog,
I am desperate (desperate!) to own an Hermès scarf.
Happy Christmas shopping everybody!
