A Merry Little Christmas (38 page)

Thanks to my agent Dot Lumley, who has been a rock during a difficult period.

To the wonderful staff at Burway Books, thanks for all your support.

For help in research matters, I’d like to thank my amazing twin, Ginia Moffatt, and my lovely writing pal, Kate Harrison. And thanks to Ginia and my niece Beth Cole for being my first readers.

Huge thanks also to my daughters Alex and Katie, and Lorna Dicken for their fascinating insights into the world of the modern teenJ. I hope I’ve got it right.

For my wonderful mother, Ann Moffatt, who always turns up trumps, thank you is probably never going to be enough, but I’ll say it anyway!

And this time, my biggest thanks have to go to my wonderful family: Dave, Katie, Alex, Christine and Steph, for helping me survive the ups and downs of everyday life.

Julia Williams has always made up stories in her head, and until recently she thought everyone else did too. She grew up in London, one of eight children, including a twin sister. She was a children’s editor at Scholastic for several years before going freelance after the birth of her second child. It was then she decided to try her hand at writing. The result, her debut novel,
Pastures New
, was a bestseller and has sold across Europe.

To find out more about Julia go to her website at
www.juliawilliamsauthor.com
, visit her blog at
www.maniacmum.blogspot.com
or follow Julia on Twitter
@JCCWilliams
.

Pastures New

Strictly Love

Last Christmas

The Bridesmaid Pact

The Summer Season

Buy your Christmas presents in the January Sales. You know it makes sense.

Invite helpful family members who will chip in, not interfere.

Buy a plain fruit cake, slap on some Jusrol icing and a plastic Santa and pass it off as your own.

If you’re not feeding an army, get a turkey roll, rather than a whole turkey.

If you’d rather socialise then cook, go out for dinner.

If you can’t afford to go out to dinner, buy it in, cheap.

Wrap presents in stages so you’re not leaving it till the last minute.

Send people e greetings and save on stamps and wrist ache.

If you HAVE to send cards, enlist those younger members of the family capable of wielding a pen to write them for you.

If you HAVE to cook Christmas pudding, make this cheating one given below – it can be prepared two days before and is DELICIOUS.

Prepare your veg early, blanch and freeze, so you’re not slaving over the peeling when your guests arrive.

Eat in the evening so you don’t have to rise at dawn to put on your turkey.