A Greeting note for Guests and Hostesses on Christmas

Posted by dodo

The hostess scurrying around at Christmas seldom feels the cold, but her guests will, particularly if they’re old, and most of all if they’re newly widowed or separated. It is essential to heat up the drawing-room, and have electric blankets or at least hot-water bottles and an electric kettle in the spare rooms. If you’re the sort of hostess who can deputise, and is not distracted by chatter, heat up the kitchen so that people will gravitate there for warmth and you can get them grating onions or peeling sprouts.

Do stock up on loo paper, firelighters, hoover bags, and light bulbs (all ghastly if you run out). No one ever gets the milk right. You’ll either have sixteen horizontal bottles hogging the fridge or run out on Boxing Day.

A friend who did the latter in the depths of the country filled up an empty two-litre vodka bottle with milk from a friendly neighbouring farmer. Putting it on the kitchen table, she horrified all the ancient relations by topping up their coffee with it at breakfast.

Ideal guests arrive and leave when they say they are going to, and come laden with goodies: a cold chicken, a garlic sausage, a large quiche, a game pie, an apple flan and lots of drink. Alternatively, if they’re staying for a few days, they should cook the odd meal or take you all out to dinner. If they’re getting a free Christmas, they can jolly well afford it.

The travelling granny who’s coming by train, who can’t carry much luggage, can always fall back on gardening, record or book tokens as presents. If she wants, and can afford, to contribute towards the food, she can always get a side of smoked salmon, a Stilton, a small hamper, or a few bottles of wine delivered to the house.

The hostess should watch out for, and note down, the odd food present that arrives by messenger or is dropped in by a neighbour, which can so easily disappear into the maw of the larder or the fridge and is never acknowledged properly thanked for.

Do remember how ultra-sensitive people are at Christmas: never criticise the food or the children. Grandparents, in particular, if they’re having their family to stay, should distribute framed photographs of their grandchildren all round the drawing-room, with the ones of the visiting grandchildren to the fore. Praise and appreciation are crucial factors in making everyone have a happier Christmas.

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