Do you remember, back in the day, the countdown to Christmas? “Only 18 Shopping Days until Christmas” – because, of course , you could not count Sundays. Today there are actually 22 days until Christmas and you are able to shop any time of the day at stores open all week and even at night if you go online. Every year at this time I am full of mixed emotions. I cannot bear the sentimental songs about “going home for Christmas”. For most of my life I have lived on a different Continent to my parents and siblings so family get togethers happen infrequently. Christmas for me is a special time with my own children and, nowadays, grandchildren. Then there is the question of gifts. One way of avoiding the dreaded unwanted/ unusable present is to produce a “Wish List”. And what about Christmas Cards? To send or not  to send? I love to make my own cards. Somehow it seems a bit more thoughtful and personal than rushing into the store to buy a boxed set.

Returning to the subject of presents I have been considering buying books. Of course there is then the problem that all the Book Stores prominently feature the latest books that they want to sell and the recipient may already have read them.  So I look for  books that I have enjoyed over the past year that I think the recipient will also enjoy reading. One of my favourite haunts is the second-hand bookstore where I may find the perfect  “coffee table” book for a friend.  Thinking about books reminded me of my own Christmases back when I still believed in Santa Claus. One of my favourite presents was the latest book by Enid Blyton. I can still recall my excitement at seeing the cover picture and  the smell of the printed pages as I carefully unwrapped the package.Dinah, Philip, Jack and LucyAnn and  not forgetting Kiki parrot who could make a screech that sounded like an express train. Their adventures fired my imagination. My own adventures never matched the wonderful exploits of Blyton’s children but I was given a parrot and, yes, that bird could screech like an express train.

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