O Come All Ye Shoppers

And so I think I have just managed to get to the end of my Christmas Shopping.

As many who know me will be only too aware, shopping is something I can do for England. Corporate jobs with several actors onboard that I have run have often been known to have "retail calls" where actors are required to disperse into the town or city we are visiting for an hour or so and shop. Purchases and most of all bargains are compared back at the hotel. Fond memories of this linger on. Miss Ryan's fur coat in Munich, Mr Puddephat and Miss Kanter's cameras in Bath, and my own list of bargains too many to mention.

At Christmas then you woudl think I would be in my element. Licensed retail opportunities to do good for others. And yet Christmas shopping bores me!

I love shopping for Richard. Every time I come up with an idea of a gift, and I buy it, I imagine the surprise or joy on his face as he unwraps the parcel on Christmas morning, and the delight in getting it right. Sometimes it's a dawning delight. Last Christmas, well ahead of current trends, I bought him a Kindle. So ahead of current trends it came with an American power supply. He was lukewarm in his surprise, but within weeks he was hugging it to his bosom in delight and now is one of the kindle's most ferocious advocates.

He's brilliant with me and my stocking always has fabulous surprises and great touches that I probably wouldn't have though of buying for myself, but nevertheless are absolutely right.

It's this problem of getting things absolutely right that sometimes takes the edge off the Christmas shop.

I have to shop for a large number of people whom we see on an infrequent basis. A lot of Richard's family, and several of our friends who live in the country. I would hate to buy them something I thought they wouldn't want. And I would hate them to do the same for me. So to ease that problem we do lists. Lists of things we would like Santa to deliver on Christmas Eve.

Therefore this part of the shopping is merely a sort of scavenger hunt, racing from shop to shop to get particular items, and these days trying to find the best price for them all. It's all a bit like an episode of The Apprentice.

Richard's family have always made me feel very welcome, and now I know some of them well enough that I can start going off list! Making radical decisions as to what I think they might like, and going against the grain.

The best parts of Christmas are always the surprises, the moments that catch you off guard and the new amid the familiar.

I hope I've managed it right this year.

I've a few small gifts to get for Sophie and family whom we are spending the big day with, but mainly it's all nearly wrapped up for this year. And I can only hope that each parcel, each box, brings joy to the receiver. It is gorgeous to get lovely things, but it is even better to see someone you love opening something that delights them.

It's a bit like doing something nice at Christmas. It's great to have nice parties etc, nice freebies and nice events, but the feeling that you have done something for someone else is the warmest feeling of all.

So to all of you out there, I think this film just sums it up. It made me just a little moist as I watched.

I hope you're moist too!