Festive Fun with... Linda Hill

Today it's my pleasure to welcome fellow blogger and friend Linda from Linda's Book Bag to the blog to find out a little about how she spends Christmas. 

Tell us a little bit about yourself. 
I’m Linda Hill and I blog about books at https://lindasbookbag.com.

I’m an increasingly wrinkly, ageing, woman from the back of beyond in Lincolnshire. As well as books I love my husband, travel, gardening, walking, cats, Bryan Ferry, chocolate, fudge and toffee as well as Bailey’s but not necessarily in that order!

What are you most looking forward to this Christmas? 
Boxing Day when we can have champagne and bacon butties for breakfast without having to drive to collect Mum. And daft as it might sound, I love it when the Christmas and New Year Radio Times is available. I don’t watch much television but somehow that magazine gives me permission to slump in front of the telly with a tub of Roses and watch all the children’s programmes. I make a cup of strong tea, grab a mince pie and highlighter pen and meticulously go through the magazine to highlight what I want to see. I record everything and then about five years later when I haven’t had time to watch the programmes and the same film has been recorded again during the next three years I delete them all and look forward to starting again next time.

Do you have any favourite family Christmas traditions?  
I’m not sure they are favourite traditions as they are great if it’s not my turn to organise them all and less fun when it is, but we have a present from the tree at lunchtime and tea time. Just something small and inexpensive.  It was quite a challenge to organise two extra presents for 14 people as well as their main gifts when we were all together! We play games, all of which have prizes that need organising like:

Guess the Famous Faces – again it’s a pain if you’re the one cutting out all the photos and sticking them on big boards, but fun to do if you’re not the organiser

The throwing game - a dealer hands out cards and then calls the cards with a second pack. There are three gifts that are then stolen and thrown between players as their cards come up. Those holding the gifts when the dealer has used all their cards keep the gifts. We usually have two or three games of this so that’s another 9 presents to think of…

Guess the mystery parcel – the prize is whatever is in the parcel

Dingbats – I can NEVER do these so if I’m organising I just grab them from the Internet

Bingo – no explanation needed I think

Guess the number of sweets in the jar – closest guess keeps the jar of sweets. 

Quizzes- Christmas related, music, general knowledge and so on 

The memory tray game. I think we can all more or less predict some of the items now – a battery, a rubber band, a sweet, a nail file, a drawing pin, a pen, a pencil… It’s not so bad collecting the items together, but it’s a real pain putting them all back where they belong afterwards!

The chocolate game. A dice is thrown and if the player gets a six they have until someone else gets a six to put on oven gloves and a silly hat and try to unwrap a big bar of chocolate. The person who unwraps the final layer keeps the chocolate.

It’s all daft fun but my word it’s hard work putting it all together.

What is your best Christmas memory? 
The Christmas I was 8. My parents were not well off and my Dad had spent a long time building our bungalow in his spare time. We’d moved in that year from my parents’ house tied to Dad’s job and so my older sister and I were told that money was tight and not to expect much at Christmas although Father Christmas would know where to bring our usual selection boxes. Imagine our faces when we went into the sitting room on Christmas morning to find a bike for me and a record player for my sister…

Describe your ideal Christmas 
I’d like snow that started falling about lunch time on Christmas Eve. I’d have close family altogether safely and healthily. There would be a magically appearing lunch for us all with all the preparation and clearing up done for us so that we could go for a walk in the snow before coming back to the warmth and sparkling tree lights to open our presents. 

If you could choose one person, dead or alive, to celebrate a one time special Christmas with, who would you choose and why? 
My Dad. I miss him every moment and Christmas has lost some of its sparkle without him.

What is your favourite festive book of all-time?
That would be like trying to pick a favourite child. It’s impossible to say.

What Christmas book would you like to see turned into a film?
Always, in December by Emily Stone. I reviewed it on my blog and it broke my heart.  https://lindasbookbag.com/2021/07/27/always-in-december-by-emily-stone

If you could spend Christmas with any fictional character, who would you choose and why? 
Oh undoubtedly Paddington. He’s been part of my Christmas for as long as I can remember and I still get Paddington books and related items for Christmas from my husband. 

Do you have a favourite Christmassy cover? 
Actually, I think many of the Christmas book covers have become so generic that it’s difficult to choose one. That said, I like them all!

Do you have any Christmas book traditions? Is it really bad for a blogger to say no? I always give books at Christmas but that goes without saying really doesn’t it?

What 3 books would you love Santa to have in his sack for you? 
That’s such a tough question Sharon. Choosing three is impossible but anything from Chris Whitaker would be perfect. Genuinely, I’d read his shopping list if I got the chance. 

What is your favourite Christmas song? 
It has to be Slade Merry Christmas Everybody doesn’t it? It’s so engrained in all our brains that it wouldn’t be Christmas without hearing it at least 50 times. 

What is your favourite Christmas film? 
My favourite film at any time is Up and I’ll be watching it again this Christmas. 

And finally, what are your hopes for 2022? 
It goes without saying that I hope for a return to greater normality across the world after the Covid pandemic, but on a personal level, I’d like to be serious for a moment and say that the terrible debilitating depression I have been suffering (like so many others) can go now thank you. I have a pretty positive public persona but that can belie how I’m really feeling. I’d quite like to get the real me back this Christmas in time for 2022. In addition, I’d like people everywhere to be kinder to one another. 

Quick-fire questions

Roses or Quality Street? Roses 
Mince pies/Christmas cake or Yule log? Yes. In that order! 
Turkey or ham? Ham usually but it has to be turkey at Christmas doesn’t it? 
Brussel sprouts or roast parsnips? Parsnips. I only eat the sprouts because they are traditional but I don’t really like them and I cover them in Cranberry Sauce to disguise the taste. 
Gravy or cranberry sauce? Cranberry Sauce. I like to keep all the elements of my food separate and gravy spreads. Yes I know I’m weird. My niece bought me a child’s plate with separate compartments for different food elements and my husband puts my gravy in a small jug so that I can control it. 
Fake or real Christmas tree? We have a fake one because we used to have cats and they were forever getting needles in the wrong places, but a real one every time for that gorgeous evocative scent. 
White or coloured lights? I envy those people who do stylish trees with white lights but I take the more is more approach and put as many coloured lights as I can on the tree. I can’t be doing with them flashing though as it’s too much like having a migraine. 
Giving or receiving presents? Genuinely giving as I have everything I could ever need or want -  and Bryan Ferry would be very tricky to wrap.

Twitter: @Lindahill50Hill 
Website: https://lindasbookbag.com 
Instagram: @ljh50Hill 
Facebook: Linda's Book Bag