The hoar frost and has gone, and the snow never really did settle properly. These beaded snowflakes will have to do until the next bout of arctic weather, which I am hoping will coincide with Christmas day. Fingers firmly crossed.

The decorations above are very old now – I bought them years ago, probably before the children were born. They are a staple of my Christmas tree, and dragged out every year along with the baubles I accumulated during my years as a shopping editor and interiors journalist. In those days I celebrated Christmas twice: once in July, when all the ranges were launched, and then again in December. I really enjoyed the weirdness of Christmas in July – we’d all stand around eating mince pies and Christmas pudding and then walk through completely over the top room sets, groaning with decorations and seasonal nonsense. Meanwhile outside it was sweltering, or more often, this was July, after all, it was raining and shoppers were hitting the sales in search of bargain holiday gear.