Monday 7 December 2015

Happy Harper Christmas: Q&A with Jane Linfoot


It's week two of the Happy Harper Christmas event organised by Katey Lovell and it's my pleasure to welcome Jane Linfoot, author of The Vintage Cinema Club, back to the blog to find out what she loves about Christmas.   

What's your earliest or best Christmas memory?
As a child, our family used to spend Christmas with my grandparents on their farm, which was somewhere I loved. When we went to bed on Christmas Eve my grandmother always used to sneak out into the garden and ring bells. Once when I was quite small I remember looking out of the bedroom window onto a frosty moonlit garden, and seeing Santa flying past on his sleigh. Looking back, I think it must have been a lucky coincidence that a helicopter happened to be passing, but it had me convinced for years.

What are you most looking forward to this Christmas?
I’m looking forward to putting the tree up, because that’s when it feels like Christmas has begun. And I love helping my partner to decorate his house – he has thirteen boxes of Christmas stuff, and last year I counted seven Christmas trees at his. I hate taking the decorations down though, because everything looks so sad afterwards. Sometimes I accidentally-on-purpose forget to take down some of the fairy lights, because I love a bit of year round twinkle.

Do you have any family Christmas traditions that you follow?
We always decorate the tree with something home made - biscuits in festive shapes are a favourite, especially with the dogs, who sidle past and help themselves. And although the girls have their own places now, we all like to meet up early on Christmas morning, for a dog walk and present opening.

If you could invite one person, dead or alive, to celebrate Christmas with you, who would it be? 
The fun answer to that is Johnny Depp, dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow, would make the party go with a swing. He’s very decorative, and I like his wry humour.

The sad answer is that I really wish my dad was still here – I’d give anything for Christmas with him.

Sadly I know exactly how you feel although for me it's my mum, Christmas has never been the same since we lost her so suddenly. 

Who in your family is the hardest person to buy for? 
My son is always harder to buy for than my daughters. Over the years his Christmas list has always been shorter, but the items on there are usually extra large. I’m thinking about his drum kit here, which came in a huge box. I nearly had a nervous breakdown on Christmas morning when he opened the box and I realised the drums were packed inside each other. A full sized drum kit is a nightmare to fit into a small cottage. Then last year I ended up buying him a roof for his Land Rover!

What film do you hope to curl up and watch on Christmas afternoon?
When Harry Met Sally, or Brigit Jones. They’re both old favourites I never get tired of. 

Do you have a favourite Christmas book?
This year’s favourite so far is Never Kiss A Man In A Christmas Jumper by Debbie Johnson.

Which singer/band would you like to turn up carol singing at your door?
I’d settle for Maroon 5. Adam Levine, topless, singing Silent Night sounds good to me. 

Which celebrity would you like to snog under the mistletoe? 
If I wasn’t hugely in love with my own personal hero at home, *put’s hands over OPH’s ears and whispers*, I’d probably choose Aidan Turner. 

If you could spend Christmas anywhere in the world, where would it be? 
Once I was in Nepal at Christmas, and accidentally ended up flying into Kathmandu, past Mount Everest, in a tiny plane on Christmas Day. I’d love to have Christmas in Kathmandu again.

What’s top of your wishlist this Christmas?
A Spa Day would be nice... Sounds more exotic than new wellies.  

If you could do one good deed for someone less fortunate than yourself this Christmas, what would it be? 
I’d like to do something to help the people caught up in the refugee crisis.

A few quickfire questions to finish... 

Tree: Real or Artificial?  Always real.
Fairy Lights: White or Multi-Coloured?  White in one room, multicoloured in the other ;)
Tinsel or no tinsel? Tinsel, especially on the animal collars.
Mulled Wine or Bucks Fizz? Bucks fizz 
Christmas Cake or Mince Pies? Mince pies. Lots and lots of mince pies.
Christmas Jumper, Tasteful or Garish? I’d have said garish every time, until I spotted a very pretty tasteful one in Fatface yesterday.

Meet The Vintage Cinema Club….

Izzy is a wow at making unwanted things pretty, but with three brothers and her shabby chic furniture business to run she doesn’t have time to date. Could a fabulous French proposal change her mind?

Single mum Luce’s vintage bridal dresses are exquisite, but there’s no way she’s ever going to wear one or walk down the aisle for that matter. She’s a strictly no romance, one night kind of woman – or so she thinks…

Dida seems to have it all – a chocolate and banana cake recipe to die for, lovely kids (most of the time!) and a great lifestyle. But what good is a fabulous home, when your marriage has more cracks than a pavlova and your husband is having it off with half of Lithuania?

Three retro fabulous friends, in love with all things vintage, run their dream business from the faded grandeur of a rescued cinema. When that dream comes under threat, they’ll do whatever it takes to save it.

1 comment:

  1. Great Q&A I agree, it doesn't feel like Christmas until the tree is up xxx

    Lainy http://www.alwaysreading.net

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