I can't believe how fast this month has flown by and that there's only a few more Festive Fun with... posts to go. Today it's my pleasure to welcome Karola Gajda to the blog.
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I’m a comedy writer and performer. Making people laugh is what I love most. I live in Birmingham but am from Yorkshire and have Polish roots. I’m married and have a dog. I have a novel out, Are My Roots Showing? set in Warsaw, but to be honest, I’m more of a script writer and performer than a novelist. I wanted to get my (serious) family history out within a (funny) storyline.
What are you most looking forward to this Christmas?
Dressing up my dog Pluto in his Santa outfit and eating nice food. I also enjoy going to church on Christmas Day as for me that’s what it’s all about.
Do you have any favourite family Christmas traditions?
My parents were Polish, so I remember Christmas Eve going out to look for the first star, then we’d have our Christmas meal. Also we’d open our Christmas presents then, not on Christmas Day!
What is your best Christmas memory?
Dropping the turkey on the kitchen floor at mum’s and quickly shovelling back onto the tray - it was so funny! No one knew about until much later!
Describe your ideal Christmas
Lots of gravy. Snow. Ideally, being cooked for but it’s only happened once - my husband made me monkfish in a fancy French red wine sauce once it took hours and hours! Otherwise Christmas abroad somewhere?
If you could choose one person, dead or alive, to celebrate a one time special Christmas with, who would you choose and why?
My late parents. But not as they were, ill, I’d only want them back if they were well. Just to cook for them and see their faces again.
What is your favourite festive book of all-time?
I love Nora Ephron’s Heartburn. It works well all year round and is so utterly human. She was a New Yorker and actually, Christmas in New York would be amazing.
What Christmas book would you like to see turned into a film?
The above!
If you could spend Christmas with any fictional character, who would you choose and why?
Madam Bovary. I think we could have some good chats. She was bored and lonely and I could be a true friend.
Do you have a favourite Christmassy cover?
Not really sorry.
Do you have any Christmas book traditions?
I always give my sister a blank A5 book as she likes to write too.
What 3 books would you love Santa to have in his sack for you?
Anything by Susan Fletcher, Marilynne Robinson or for a real laugh, Emma Kennedy’s The Tent The Bucket and Me is a hilarious account of camping.
What is your favourite Christmas song?
Silent Night. Hear it in Polish, language of my forefathers, and I cry buckets.
What is your favourite Christmas film?
It’s a Wonderful Life.
And finally, what are your hopes for 2022?
That at the Edinburgh Fringe, my new comedy theatre show, ‘I, Marigold’ - about marriage, life and housework - is a hit.
Quick-fire questions
Roses or Quality Street? QS - I’m a toffee kind of person and I think there is more toffee in QS than Roses.
Mince pies/Christmas cake or Yule log? Mince pies - but I am very fussy when it comes to mince pies. I like a very short homemade pastry and mincemeat laced with brandy.
Turkey or ham? Turkey, but only with crispy skin!
Brussel sprouts or roast parsnips? Sprouts as at least they’re green - parsnips are too perfumed and woody.
Gravy or cranberry sauce? Gravy gravy gravy. My in-laws can do without gravy so I always get nervous of dinner at theirs. I once took a tub of Bisto with me and sure enough there was no gravy, however I couldn’t bring myself to get it out. I just went upstairs, took out the tub and thought ‘you could solve everything’ but sadly, back in my bag you go. It would have been too rude.
Fake or real Christmas tree? Neither. I try to put the money to a good cause instead. I wish I’d kept my parents’ Christmas tree, all tinselly - they had the same tree for decades - and it was so, so sweet.
White or coloured lights? White. But I love both.
Giving or receiving presents? Probably giving. That said, more shoes (if I’ve picked them) never go amiss.
Website: https://writingkarola.com
Twitter: @karolagajda
Instagram: @writingkarola
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