Well, Christmas is well and truly on the way now. Despite the credit crunch, the shops are unbearably busy and the Post Office is threatening a strike, so yep, it must be Christmas...
And now for my confession - I'm escaping Christmas this year. No stressing over what presents to buy family and friends in over-heated shops. No sitting in front of tedious Christmas TV. No excesses of the food and alcohol kind. Nope, this year I'm hopping on a plane and spending three weeks in India instead!
Even there I won't escape Xmas completely as Kerala, where I'm going, has a substantial Christian population who will, of course, celebrate Christmas. I'm rather glad about this though as it'll be interesting to see how they do things over there. Somehow I suspect it won't be as over-the-top as the UK! And I'm looking forward to my turkey curry! (Actually, as southern India is veggie, I'll be giving the turkey a miss altogether.)
How are you planning on spending Christmas? I guess a fair number of you will be roasting your 'dinde' on the other side of the Channel, in your French homes. If so, will it be a copycat of the Christmas you'd spend in Britain or will it have a distinct French flavour? We'd love to hear from you about your Christmas and New Year experiences in France - and, of course, your property resolutions for 2009 (email me on karen.tait@archant.co.uk).
It's been a while since I've been over to France myself and I'm definitely experiencing withdrawal symptoms. At least I can look forward to a taste of France in London when I get back in January. The France Show (9-11 January 2009) will be held this year at Earl's Court - a new venue and lots of new attractions to look forward to. Hope you'll be coming along too - don't forget to say hello to us on the FPN stand, just forgive me if I look a little tired as I'll only just have arrived back from India!
In the meantime, I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Year, wherever you are. See you in 2009!