That Christmas Moment

It’s here Honey Pies! And in my efforts to create the gorgeous, snowless Christmas of my dreams I have drifted into Sergeant Major mode and my troops are looking suitably bemused as I issue last minute instructions and shriek about the lack of kidney beans in the house, intended for the not so very traditional Christmas Eve Chilli I have planned in the recipe section of my Christmas Planner…
I am trying not to be bonkers but readers it isn’t easy when bonkers comes so easily. Although this has been the most carefully orchestrated Christmas I have ever planned, today I am besieged by that still to be done: cakes to be baked, beds to be changed, flowers to be delivered and magic to be sprinkled! Ah yes, Mommy Christmas will have no peace until she has invented and performed a long list of ludicrous necessities that to my mind the entire joy of Christmas depends on…
I am like you. I feel it too. Despite my plans and routines and countdown. I feel it too. But this Christmas I want you to do something for me.  This Christmas I want you to look for that moment.  The one that says it was all worth it. The one that makes you shiver a little bit with the pure joy of it. Look for it and mark it. Look for it and internalize it for always: a nugget of pure Christmas gold…
Remember to seek out solitude. Retreat to your bedroom for grown-up time-outs if you can. Meditate. Or simply close your eyes behind a close door. Sniff a little lavender of drop a teeny bit of essence of mimosa on to your tongue when you are close to the edge.
Remember also to seek out the silly. Pull a party hat on to your head the minute you hear the children tumble out of bed on Christmas morning. Pick up the little ones and perform a polka. Laugh all over again at The Barron Knights doing an impression of the Rolling Stones in their 1960’s Christmas medley or do your own version of the viral video of the year, GanGnam style, as those Housewives have recently done for charity…
(Rumour has it that my Dad, commonly known as GanGan amongst the little ones in the family, has his very own version of Gangnam Style dancing planned: GanGan Style! Something I suspect might just be one of my moments…)
I am signing off today for a few days. Please don’t forget to treat yourself to the forthcoming Puttery Year Companion, and know that I truly don’t mind if you PAY WHAT YOU CAN for this 2013 offering of mine. At the beginning of Simple Abundance there is a quote that inspires me daily, by Louise Bogan…
…in a time lacking in truth and certainty and filled with anguish and despair, no woman should be shamefaced in attempting to give back to the world, through her work, a portion of its lost heart.”
And this in part is why during the past year I have changed my pricing policy on BrocanteHome and as a result seem my business go from strength to strength. In troubling times for me personally I now feel capable and independent probably for the first time in my life and it is to you that I am so very, very grateful. For all those of you who have become Housekeeping Superstars in the past twelve months, or gathered a few pennies together when times are hard to pay what you can for whatever download your heart has been longing for. For your continued loyalty during a year when I have struggled with something terrible and kept on keeping on regardless because I knew you were rooting for me. You can never, ever know what your support for myself and Finley means to us.
So I wish you all everything you are wishing for. Whether it be peace, reassurance or the apparently ubiquitous Pandora bracelet. I wish you sprouts that don’t go mushy, a pudding that flambes in gorgeous style and a sixpence between your teeth. I wish you Big Crosby and the Queens Speech. I wish you crackers full of love and stockings full of happiness and above all else, Dear, Darling Brocanteers, I wish you joy.
Happy Christmas Sweetheart.x