Friday 21 December 2012

Christmas Shorts with... Jane Lovering

I'm delighted to welcome Jane Lovering to answer a couple of questions in my penultimate Christmas Shorts with... feature.

What is your favourite Christmas tradition?
The Christmas day walk that we always go for in the middle of the day. Because we don't eat Christmas dinner until the evening, the kids have spent all day stuffing themselves with Quality Street, the dogs have eaten the wrappers, I'm tetchy at having been expected to be all organised and have all the presents wrapped and dinner preparations finished, so being able to career about in the open air for an hour or so is a good thing. We're lucky that we live right underneath the North Yorks Moors, so there's always somewhere to go to run off the excess energy and excitement, while the children and dogs stand around and watch. I really should calm down a bit...

What is your favourite Christmas song?
It's a Christmas carol. 'Oh come, oh come, Emmanuel'. Not for any other reason than I like singing the twiddly bits. I have to point out that I am the sort of singer that can only operate in crowds - my voice has to be diluted by at least ten or twelve others before it can be listened to without making your ears bleed, so choral singing suits me down to the ground. Plus, I have a vocal range of about three notes, so anything too high or too low causes me to make 'pain' faces. 'Oh come' is nicely middle-ground, but, as I've said, has twiddly bits.     

 
What one thing would you like to receive in your stocking?
I am notoriously hard to buy for. If asked, I can never think of anything I want/need, and it usually takes until the middle of February before I realise I should have asked for a new food processor or a visit to a health spa. But the one thing I would LOVE to find wrapped up for me would be a voucher that says 'Today, Christmas Dinner will arrive, ready-cooked, with all the trimmings, and the dirty places will magically disappear, as will all the left-over wrapping paper/boxs/cat fur/associated mess. You just eat, then go back to bed with a good book, and we don't expect to see you again until Doctor Who comes on TV.'

I can dream, can't I?      
 
Finally a few quick fire questions to finish

Christmas at Home or Away? Home, absolutely. I'd have to behave myself if I went anywhere else.
Mulled Wine or Winter Pimms? Neither. They both taste like prescription medicine. A nice, chilled Chardonnay for me, please.
Sprouts... Delicious or evil? Delicious! Cooked for a minute, and served with crunchy bacon bits...
Yule Log or Mince Pie? Yule log. Don't like pastry, which is weird.
A Christmas Carol or Hogfather? Both! Hogfather, if absolutely pushed to decide.
Miracle on 34th Street or It's a Wonderful Life? Whisper this, but I've never seen either. Although I can recommend The Amazing Mr Blunden as a terrific Christmas film.

If you'd like to find out more about Jane and her books which include, Vampire State of Mind and Please Don't The Music which won the Romantic Novel of the year award this year, then why not head over to her blog, or connect with her on Twitter where I'm sure she'd love to hear from you.  

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for the interview! I hope nobody disagrees too violently with my somewhat slapdash method of celebrating Christmas... But a very Happy Christmas to you, Shaz, and to all your readers - and hopes for a peaceful and prosperous New Year.

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  2. Hilarious answers! I expected no less, mind you....

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