Your (mostly) merry and bright Heyday Friday newsletter
Delightful decorations, festive fun facts, storage solutions, an illuminating insight, plus spys and shootings in this week's newsletter.
Hello!
As you’re probably more than aware, I love pretty much everything about Christmas. All the traditions (I wrote about all sorts of weird and wonderful ones of those in THIS BLOG) the general festive jollity, the time spent together with the people I love most, eve, since we introduced a brilliantly stress-relieving Secret Santa where we not only buy just one gift for one person, we put our requests on a list, so we know exactly WHAT each one of us actually wants, the previously exhausting present buying.
But the bit I unquestionably love most of all about this time of year is the Christmas decorations. Seeing them around London, where they’re almost uniformly gorgeous, is simply magical. The giant bells adorning Covent Garden are a particular favourite this year.
As are the glorious, shimmering angels once again swooping above Regent Street, which have become a welcome regular London Christmas lights feature.
And Oxford Street is looking pretty darn good too.
I also absolutely love seeing how people adorn their homes, outside and in, for the festive season. I really relish driving along darkened streets seeing enthusiastically decorated trees twinkling at the windows, and houses decked out in an array of festive lights.
It always inspires me to make my own house look all twinkly and Christmassy, which is what I’ve been doing over the past week. So in the hope that you might enjoy seeing it, there’s an exclusive peek in THIS WEEK’S BLOG. Where you’ll also discover the very special story behind this unusual, much treasured string of decorations.
FRIDAY FESTIVE FUN FACT (1)
WORDS OF WISDOM
From the impeccably insightful Maya Angelou
Should you want to be sure to be one of those people who handles Christmas tree lights well, these
SMART SAVE TIPS OF THE WEEK
might save your festive sanity - and other people’s opinion of you - in the same way they have mine (clearly can only refer to my sanity. I just have to hope other people don’t think too badly of me. Even the ones who’ve seen me on a rainy day.)
When you’re storing away your strings of Christmas lights, wrap them around a cardboard tube - an empty toilet roll is idea. It not only keeps them from getting tangled up, but makes them easy to feed out when you’re hanging them next time.
And if, like me, you have lots of strings which may look similar but are different lengths, or colours, stick a label on the plug or battery box saying where they are best hung, or whether they’re bright or soft white, or a colour. I know that sounds simple, but it’s been a game-changer for me.
THIS WEEK I’VE BEEN……WATCHING
It’s true there’s not much festive cheer on offer in this darkly comic new thriller on Netflix. But what it does has is a stellar cast, headed by Kiera Knightley, Ben Wishaw and Sarah Lancashire, an intriguing set up (it’s not a spoiler to reveal that Kiera plays the wife of a senior British politician who is actually a long-time spy for a shady organisation called the Black Doves - you find that out early in the first episode), and a conspiracy that turns out to be far more complicated and dangerous than any of the protagonists expect. So all the ingredients for a thoroughly entertaining, if frequently incredibly bloody, six-part series, then.
It’s a bit of a slow-burn, in spite of the carnage of the first episode, but once wily wife/undercover operative, Kiera, sensitive assassin Ben, and icy Sarah as the Black Doves overlord, get back together for one last, increasingly chaotic job, it finds its blood-soaked feet and sweeps you along with plenty of unexpected twists, terrific supporting characters (several well-known faces are introduced then unceremoniously dispatched) and enough dark humour amongst the slaughter to make the increasingly overblown absurdity (mass shootings happen left and right with any onlookers barely batting an eyelid) both enjoyable and satisfying.
You can watch BLACK DOVES on Netflix
And see the trailer HERE
WHAT’S MADE ME HAPPY THIS WEEK
I realise this isn’t remotely timely in that it’s from Halloween, but it does perfectly fit with the joyous lights theme for reasons you’ll see. I’m not sure what I love more, the brilliant ingenuity of this couple’s costume, or the joy on their illuminated faces. What do you think?
FRIDAY FESTIVE FUN FACT (2)
My love of lights has a way to go before it comes close to the astonishing annual display from the Gay family of Union Vale, outside New York, who have held the Guinness World Record for the most lights on a residential property since 2014
I’d love to know if any of your Christmas decorations have a story behind them like the very special set I write about in THE BLOG.
If you’ve been illuminated by reading this newsletter - sorry I couldn’t resist - please do let me know by dropping me a little like heart.
That’s it until next week, which will be the final missive for 2024.
See you then
Thanks for the light storage tips. Every year we end up plugging each set in and then try to remember where they went last year. I just need to find the labels…