A Very Merry Christmas!

Only eight days left in this year... and hasn't time gone quickly? I hope you're all well and ready for the festivities if you're celebrating Christmas.

We don't do Thanksgiving in England, so I tend to use Christmas to look back at the last twelve months and consider things that went well. 2013 has been a good year for us. I started my own business in 2012 and it has continued to grow to a point where it's viable. We welcomed a new little cat to our home in October and he's settling in very well. We had the chance to rediscover the Peak District, where we lived when we were first married, and we had a lovely holiday exploring Kent and Sussex which culmitated in me finally visiting Battle Abbey! (More of that in the new year, I promise!)

And finally, last weekend Essentially England celebrated its sixth birthday. So before I do anything else I'd like to extend my thanks to everyone who made that possible. With starting a business, I've not had as much time to spend on the England site as I would have liked, but I do appreciate all my visitors, Facebook friends and Twitter followers very much. I love your comments and notes and certainly appreciate the encouragement. Thank you for that!

Essentially England has helped me meet people from all over the world, and I love to talk food and history with all of you. Some of you have visited England, or have family here, while for others England's a place to get excited about, or a holiday-to-do. So I thought that for this issue of Essentially England News, I'll bust a myth about Christmas in England!

Christmas in England

While that's a pretty, peaceful festive look, Christmas in England is rarely like this. For one, there have only been 7 white Christmases in the whole of the 20th century. And a white Christmas doesn't mean we all enjoy a thick blanket of snow, either! It only means that snow has to fall on December 25th on the roof of the building of Britain's Meteorological Service. So while they might enjoy three flakes and declare a white Christmas, the rest of us could just be looking at green grass and bare trees.

Case in point, right at the moment it's about 10°C, blowing a gale and raining fit to require an ark. No snow in sight.

What we do have, though, are lights and carols and mince pies and mulled wine. And friends and family, of course. And after all, that's all that matters. So whether you're celebrating in the snow or with a BBQ on the beach, please let me thank you for your company and wish you and your families a Very Happy Christmas and a wonderful 2014!

And Next Month …