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He's flying over the house

Carol Birch on magical Christmas memories

What is your favourite Christmas memory?

When I was about three, lying in bed with my big sister and hearing Father Christmas’s sleigh bells. ‘Listen,’ she said, ‘he’s flying over the house.’ Many years later I found out what it really was. We had a soft toy called Pedro, a dog with bells in his ears. She was wiggling his ears with her toes. But at the time it was magical.

What is the worst present you’ve ever given or received?

My mother gave me a powder blue puffa jacket with a grey fur collar to keep me warm when I lived in Ireland. It wasn’t me at all and made me look like the Michelin man. She thought it was beautiful. Of course I told her I loved it, but I never wore it and every time I looked at it I felt sad and guilty. She didn’t have much money and it must have cost a fair amount.         

What are your plans for this Christmas?

I am spending this Christmas in New York with my husband and two teenage sons. We will go ice-skating under the big Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Centre on Christmas Eve, have dinner in a restaurant on the Lower East Side on Christmas Day and spend the rest of the week exploring Manhatten. None of us have been to America before, so there’s high excitement.

Are you giving any books this Christmas?

I always give my sons books at Christmas. Last year it was ‘Slaughterhouse Five’ and ‘The Third Policeman’ but I haven’t decided on this year’s yet.

What book would you most like to receive this Christmas?

‘The Nag Hammadi Library in English’ by James Robinson. These are translations of manuscripts that were gathered and translated into Coptic in the 4th Century and lay buried in a stone jar in a cave in Egypt until 1945. Pretty hard to get hold of and probably expensive, so a copy of Cervantes’ ‘Don Quixote’ would do very nicely.

Any tips for surviving the festive period?

Remember that you can’t please all of the people all of the time

Posted 28/11/2007 16:22:11 by Carol Birch with 0 comments.

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