The Christmas Bucket List #4: Watch a Festive Movie Marathon

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“Jamie’s sprawled out in one corner of the couch, shoes off, feet up. I sit in the extra chair even though the view of the TV isn’t as good. I’ve seen this a hundred times anyway, but watching Kevin McAllister versus the Wet Bandits never gets tired. And I love the house – its green shuttered windows, lights strung in the trees, a wreath on the door and snow on the ground outside. I wish I were spending Christmas there instead of this pokey flat. Then I wouldn’t mind being home alone.”

From The Christmas Bucket List

When it comes to Christmas traditions, festive movies are my THING. I mean, literally, I’m even a high scorer on QuizUp in Christmas movies. I love them. And not just the really good ones, I also love the totally predictable, cheese-deluxe Hallmark movies, where some city type stumbles into a small town during the holidays and learns the real meaning of the season, or a woman goes back to her home town and rediscovers her first love, or someone’s planning a Christmas wedding but it’s to the wrong guy. The same plots in different ways, but they still never fail to make me feel festive (and also, kind of want to live in small town America). But when it comes to a Christmas movie marathon, it has to be classics all the way. This would be my perfect line-up:

  • Home Alone 1 & 2: I didn’t just make Jamie and Isobel watch these because of Jamie’s love for all things John Hughes – the Home Alone franchise (or at least the ones with Macauley Culkin aka the only ones that actually count) never fail to raise the Christmas spirit. And that time I moved to New York a week before Christmas? Might have been more than a little inspired by multiple watchings of Lost in New York…
  • When Harry Met Sally: Not a Christmas film technically, I know, but there’s Christmas and New Years in it and it’s one of my favourite films of all time, so any excuse to watch it will do.
  • Love, Actually: I remember when I watched this for the first time loving the way London was portrayed – all sparkly and glittery. I’d only seen New York like that in (Christmas) films before – London was often much more gritty or dark and Dickensian. And I did live in Wandsworth (the dodgy end) myself at the time. When I set out to write The Christmas Bucket List, that was the face of festive London I had in mind – it really can be so magical!
  • It’s a Wonderful Life: The perfect film to round off a marathon, and one I watch every single year myself. Jimmy Stewart is such a delight, and I’m always in pieces by the end.

Of course, there are lots of others I try to squeeze in this time of year, even if they’re better for a single sitting rather than a marathon. Polar Express makes me bawl (in a good way!) as does The Snowman (I had to bring a DVD back with me so I could carry on the British tradition of watching this on Christmas Day). Elf is HILARIOUS. So is Scrooged. And I have a HUGE soft spot for Serendipity (oh, John Cusack, when will you be in my Christmas stocking?).

What are your favourite Christmas films?

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The Christmas Bucket List #3: Go Ice-Skating

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“I might not have thought this through completely. Still, I clump gingerly to the barrier and tiptoe on to the ice, my legs wobbling precariously. I hold on to the rail for dear life as I start to move slowly round. Forget Dancing on Ice, this is more like Strictly Come Shuffling.”

From The Christmas Bucket List

Okay, confession. I SUCK at skating. I have absolutely no co-ordination and it’s enough of a problem to stay upright in daily life, let alone when I’m trying to balance on frozen water with bits of metal stuck to the bottom of my feet. Which is why I’m more of an observer than a participant when it comes to London’s ice rinks, even if I keep promising myself that one year I’ll go get some skate lessons. That year definitely won’t be this year though, since I’m in sunny South Africa, and there isn’t a single rink near where I am, so this is one bucket list item that will have to wait a little longer for me to tick it off. But it doesn’t stop me thinking happily of the outdoor London rinks I’ve visited – one of the absolute best parts of Christmas in the city for my money. It isn’t just the skating itself since, as I’ve said, that’s not my forté. It’s the whole festive atmosphere that you get around the rink too, as well as the chance to celebrate in some of Blighty’s most iconic locations. Here are my favourites:

  1. Somerset House: This is where Jamie and Isobel go in The Christmas Bucket List, and when I was writing the novella there was really only one option for where I would set the scene. Somerset House is absolutely breathtaking, the atmosphere is deliciously festive, and they even used to have a giant walk-in Tiffany’s box where you could buy Tiffany’s cupcakes (did I mention I have a bit of a Tiffany’s obsession?). Can I live a giant Tiffany’s box one day? Seriously. Can I?
  2. Natural History Museum: Another gorgeous, iconic London building that’s amazing lit up at night. I remember popping down there one night after work in the hope of finding some last minute gifts at the market stalls (not sure if they still have these though). I arrived stressed and bustly, and left feeling completely festive and lovely.
  3. Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park: This is the closest you’ll get in London to the classic New York experience of skating at Central Park. Winter Wonderland is a really fun festival – and of course, it makes an appearance in The Christmas Bucket List too!
  4. Hampton Court Palace: I haven’t been to this ice rink, but it would be top of my list, since Hampton Court is a gorgeous location. I’ve picnicked there in summer, even run around it for a 10K, so skating here seems like a logical next step. One day!
  5. Eyeskate: The London Eye and Jubilee Gardens have a special place in The Christmas Bucket List (you’ll have to read it to see why!) so this is another rink that has to make the list. Magical lights and a view of the Thames? Yes, please.

Image credit: Milestone Hotel

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The Christmas Bucket List #2: Drink Hot Chocolate

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“All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.”
Charles M. Schulz

Anything related to food is right up my street, especially when it comes to Christmas – all the flavours and treats are a huge part of my festive memories. And one of the things I loved most coming from South Africa and living in the Northern Hemisphere is that winter was the perfect excuse to order a hot chocolate at every opportunity. My absolute BEST was in Italy, where the drinking chocolate is thick and smooth – you pretty much have to eat it with a spoon. Although drinking it through a metal straw at Harrods (where the molten chocolate flows through tubes around you, Willie Wonka style) or in Switzerland with a dollop of ice cream, or even just at the local Starbucks also come to mind as happy chocolate drinking memories. So of course hot chocolate had to be on Isobel’s list in The Christmas Bucket List too. In fact, because she’s a smart girl, she also drinks it at every opportunity (calories don’t count for book characters, obviously). This year, I decided to get a bit adventurous and see what sort of recipes I could find on Pinterest for hot chocolate to sweeten up my festive season. And wow, there were a lot! Here are the three I think sound most delicious, and I’ll be whipping them up soon! Will so be posting a pic and some nomnom noises on Twitter when I do…

Which hot chocolate recipes will you be trying out?

Image credit: 79 Ideas (photography: radostina)

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The Christmas Bucket List #1: Buy & Decorate a Real Tree

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First on the list is a tree. Back at home, my parents have several Christmas trees, commissioned from local craftsmen, fashioned from wire and beadwork or carved from driftwood. They don’t need decorating, you just sort of set them up and admire them. They’re beautiful and unique, but growing up, I longed for the smell of evergreen filling the house.

From The Christmas Bucket List

Buying a real tree might be first on the list for Isobel, the heroine of The Christmas Bucket List, but the truth is that I’m more of a fake tree girl myself. Of course, I adore the smell of fresh pine, and they always look so pretty, but I hate seeing sad, dying trees abandoned in the streets after Twelfth Night. It reminds me of that Friends episode where Phoebe tries to get all the ugly trees in the tree lot to fulfil their Christmas destiny instead of facing the woodchipper.

The other reason is that in my family, we have a (fake) tree that has been around FOREVER, and is very much part of the whole holiday tradition for me. When I was just a small girl, my dad bought it from a company that usually sold trees to shops for display, because it was the only place he could find one that was big enough to hold the gigantic collection of decorations and baubles that came from both sides of the family. We have glass balls that my grandparents brought with them from Italy, that have been hung for generations, little angels from my mother’s mother, and of course loads of decorations that we’ve bought ourselves over the years. The end result is pretty amazing – even if it does take hours and hours to do. Underneath it all, there’s a traditional Italian presepio, with the full nativity scene as well as a village teeming with people, a lake, mountains and tiny houses.

The tree never goes up before 16 December, when the whole family spends the day pulling boxes out of storage, sorting through boxes packed with sawdust and cotton wool, and trying to find gaps for just one more wooden santa or Venetian glass icicle. When it’s done, it’s absolutely magical – even if it doesn’t actually smell of evergreen.

Image credit: Bon Appetit Magazine (stylist: Susie Theodorou)

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Downloadable Christmas Bucket List

As you can probably guess from the title, The Christmas Bucket List features a list of Christmassy activities, most of which the hero and heroine tick off during the story. I did one of these myself a few years ago, and it was a really good way of reminding myself to make the most of one of my favourite seasons, and do some fun stuff with friends and family. Otherwise I find the time can just rush by, and before you know it, it’s 25 December and you’ve missed your chance. So I’ve made a special downloadable bucket list for you to print off and complete this festive season. Enjoy!

Christmas Bucket List

Download a printable Christmas bucket list
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Why I Wrote (and Published) a Christmas Novella

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So here I am kicking off my brand new Ella Fairlie blog (hello!), and launching my very first self-published novella, The Christmas Bucket List. Which is super exciting and terrifying all at the same time.

I wanted to write about WHY I decided to write and self-publish the novella. After all, there are a ton of brilliant Christmas books out there at the moment by talented, well-known writers. It’s entirely possible that the only downloads will come from me and my mum. It clearly isn’t for the money. And it isn’t because I’m hoping it’ll magically get the attention of an agent or publisher (although both would be nice). The short version is (and this is so appropriate for Christmas): it’s for the JOY.

See, not too long ago, I was a book publisher. Nothing too glamorous – mostly educational – but that didn’t stop everyone I knew (and everyone they knew) from asking me to read their secret manuscripts. Which is basically THE WORST. From the work contact who had me pass his chapter book on to our children’s department and then emailed me every few days with an updated version (so awkward), to the person who wrote a whole book about orangutans but didn’t bother too find out how to spell ‘orangutan’ (seriously!?!), to a friend’s father’s erotic novel (which thank GOD never actually made it into my inbox), I saw them all. Wherever I could, I gave helpful suggestions and encouragement (not that I got any thanks). And the one thing that I found myself saying to every one of them, and everyone at a party who ever told me they wanted to write a book when they found out what I did for a living, was that you should never go into writing because you think you’re going to make a fortune (and please don’t mention JK Rowling). Write because you love it, because it makes you happy, because you can’t NOT do it, I told them. Write for the joy.

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