Oct
22
Posted by dodo
How exciting! the children are breaking-up from school today. Scarlett has already collected little Nicholas and Carol from their primary schools, and is driving down to Berkshire to collect Holly from boarding school. Noël has taken the afternoon off to collect Robin from his boarding school. As usual, the end-of-term carol service takes twice as long as scheduled, and even the sight of pretty mothers in fur coats coming out of chapel doesn’t cheer up Noël, who’s been champing outside in the Volvo for forty minutes. Read the rest of this entry »
Oct
01
Posted by dodo
Despite Noël’s claim that even numbers don’t matter, Scarlett is fretting about the shortage of spare men. Some girl rings up to cancel.
`Oh goodee, I mean oh gosh, how sad,’ says Scarlett, ‘We MUST get together in the New Year.’
Zero hour. The house is radiant with candles; the carpets stretch out, virginal. Fortunately, between parties, memory blots out the sheer terror that always grips her before everyone arrives, when all Scarlett craves is a quadruple vodka laced with Valium which would lay her out for ever. Outside, Robin and his mates, already blue with cold, wait stamping their feet, to help park the cars. Read the rest of this entry »
Oct
01
Posted by dodo
`We give parties,’ wrote Frank Muir, ‘because we are parting ourselves from feelings of guilt that people have had us round to their place, and we haven’t had them back; and having them in one fell swoop is easier than two by two.’
Or, as a neighbour said delightfully last Christmas, `Do come to drinks before lunch on 28 December — I’m asking all the people I can’t face having to dinner.’
I always adore the idea of giving a Christmas party, romantically envisaging roaring fires, hundreds of scarlet candles, and all my friends looking beautiful in velvet and lots of glitter; but I feel very strongly that everyone should think very coolly and very seriously before embarking on one. Read the rest of this entry »
Aug
09
Posted by dodo
A Popular Christmas Carol `The Holly and the Ivy’ can be seen as a reminder of Christ’s life. The first verse points out ‘The Holly and the Ivy, When they are both full-grown, Of all the trees that are in the wood, The holly bears the crown’, the crown being symbolic of Christ the King of Heaven, The second verse recalls ‘The holly bears the blossom, As white as lily flower, And Mary bore sweet Jesus, To be our sweet Saviour’. Read the rest of this entry »
Aug
05
Posted by dodo
A Popular Christmas Carol `The Holly and the Ivy’ can be seen as a reminder of Christ’s life. The first verse points out ‘The Holly and the Ivy, When they are both full-grown, Of all the trees that are in the wood, The holly bears the crown’, the crown being symbolic of Christ the King of Heaven, The second verse recalls ‘The holly bears the blossom, As white as lily flower, And Mary bore sweet Jesus, Read the rest of this entry »
