The Calm Christmas Podcast with Beth Kempton

S3 Ep3 WE THREE KINGS: For the love of mindful gifting

• Beth Kempton • Season 3 • Episode 3

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Today is all about mindful gifting. Listen to this before Black Friday hits! It’s almost impossible to think about Christmas without thinking about presents, and I know it’s still early, but starting to think about mindful gifting now can save us stress, save us money, help us give things that will genuinely bring joy, and give us time to enjoy the process of dreaming up ideas, making or buying, wrapping them and delivering them in good time.

This episode includes:

  • Why being more mindful about gifting at Christmas can be good for our mental health as well as our wallets
  • What kind of conversations to have now to make gifting easier and more joyful
  • What we are doing in my house to spend less but bring more joy
  • My three gifting guideposts (they will save you wasting your precious money on presents that people don’t actually want)
  • The joy of advent calendars
  • Nature corner
  • Christmas traditions from around the world (from lovely listeners!)
  • A great recipe from Mark Diacono that makes a fab gift + my own homemade granola recipe (back by popular demand!)
  • A fab giveaway worth £700 (enter on my Instagram @bethkempton)

With inspiration from:

@ ArounnaKhounnoraj @countrylivinguk @noor_unnahar @emilysilva @Mark Diacono @editbyemily (Emily Dawe)

Lovely things for you:

·      The FREE Calm Christmas Planner (a little book of festive printables which includes my unusual but highly effective approach to budgeting, plus tons of mindful gift ideas)

·      My Winter Writing Sanctuary 10-day FREE online writing class 

Beth Xx

PS See the full show notes here for recipe ingredients etc. If you are worried about money call the National Debtline in the UK on 0808 808 4000 or seek out a similar organisation in your country.

Featured in this episode:

In the library of my mind, I descend the stairs to my subconscious, sink into an old leather armchair and send a flurry of dust into a shaft of winter sunlight which is pouring in from a high window. Looking around, I see shelf after shelf of memory books marked ‘Christmas’.  I take down the oldest volume and open it carefully, curious to what is inside. 

There’s a young girl at a Christmas fair, eking out her pocket money to buy gifts for her family. On the next page the same girl is huddled at the desk in her bedroom, hand-stamping Christmas cards. Then she is opening the first door on her Advent calendar, a hint of Christmas magic encircling her.

The old book holds many more images. In one the girl and her brothers are opening their stockings excitedly, reaching in to find a bag of chocolate coins, a clementine and a pound tucked into the toe. In another she is at the door of the front room, hand on the ceramic doorknob, exchanging excited glances with her brothers, silently asking, ‘Has he been?’

Interestingly, in all of the pictures in all of the memory books marked ‘Christmas’, only a handful are directly related to what was contained inside wrapped packages on Christmas Day. Instead, it is the anticipation of those gifts that features most prominently, and the fun of giving and receiving. 

Welcome to Episode 3 of The Calm Christmas Podcast with me, Beth Kempton. Today we are talking all about mindful gifting. It’s almost impossible to think about Christmas without thinking about presents, and I know it’s still early, but starting to think about mindful gifting now can save us stress, save us money, help us give things that will genuinely bring joy, and give us time to enjoy the process of dreaming up ideas, making or buying, wrapping them and delivering them in good time.

The other night a wild storm whipped around our house, cackling as it rattled the windowpanes and whooshed down the chimney. In the deepest part of the night, when even the moon had taken cover, a small silhouette appeared at the bedroom door, in the shape of a girl carrying her favourite cuddly dog. 

“I don’t like it” our eldest daughter said. “It’s too loud.” “Shall I come in?” I asked. She nodded and we went back to her room, where the storm was even louder. We snuggled under her duvet and listened as the rain battered the window and the gale whistled down the road. 

“I haven’t heard a storm this wild for a long time,” I said. “In fact, I think the last time was around midnight on Christmas Eve, nine years ago.” She loosened her grip on her dog and looked up at me, eyes wide as I told her, for the hundredth time, of the way she arrived into the world. 

“You know, thanks to you, I really love storms now, because they remind me of that night. Best Christmas ever. Best gift ever.”

“Me too,’ she said, smiling, and drifted off to sleep.

I lay there in the dark thinking about the real gifts of this life, and how I could translate the essence of them into the presents I buy and make this year. 

The gift giving aspect of the holidays is a time to share any abundance we have been blessed with, and say thank you to those we are grateful to, often in the form of something we can wrap with care and offer with love.

I invite you to take a moment and think back to Christmas when you were a child. Which gift stands out most in your memory and why? For me one of those I remember most clearly was a calligraphy set, with a box of nibs, and tiny pots of coloured inks, each wrapped separately, and all put in a beautiful box tied with a ribbon. We used to get presents from Father Christmas and then a couple of special ones labelled as being from my parents. There was joy in having many things to open, and in knowing that they had noticed my interest in art and words. I hadn’t asked for a calligraphy set. I didn’t know what it was until I opened that gift, but it was a delight. I also remembered the time we were sitting around the Christmas tree happily unwrapping gifts when my dad asked my older brother to go and get him a beer from the back room. It was a bit odd, because he didn’t drink beer in the mornings, but it was Christmas Day, so hey. The next thing we knew there was a squeal of joy, and my brother was standing in the laundry room grinning, holding onto a brand new bike. I asked Mr K about his memory of presents, and the one which stood out the most was when his family, who moved around a lot, found themselves in a hotel room in Hong Kong on Christmas Day. Santa somehow found a way in, and delivered a Scalectrix set, which he and his brothers constructed all over the floor, around their suitcases.

As I said, I remember the details of what I received over the years less than I remember the anticipation before the big day, the excitement of beautifully wrapped presents and the not knowing what was in them, the fun of discovering gifts hidden in strange places, or being sent on a treasure hunt to find something in the shed, and the feeling of opening something that was just right at that moment in my life. Turns out not much has changed since I was little, although these days finding the right gifts for people, and wrapping them carefully, brings me easily as much joy as getting presents myself.

How about you, I wonder?

Let’s think about mindful gifting from the point of view of our own wellbeing. According to the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute,[1]  Overspending can be an issue all year round, but can be particularly challenging to manage at this time of year. With all the pressure and stresses, people with mental health problems can be more prone to ‘Crisis spending’, which the Policy Insitute defines as spending behaviour which:

  • Happens during a period of poor mental health
  • Is motivated by emotional or psychological, rather than material need
  • Causes some form of financial detriment. 

They say that research shows festive stresses can trigger a mood swing, making it harder to control spending, and that anyone with depression can be prone to comfort spending or spending on others to boost low mood. It is so easy to miss what’s going on with our finances at this time of year, and apparently research shows that mental health problems can make organising, planning and keeping track of finances that much harder. 

That is why lots of charities advertise at this time of year to support mental health issues as well as financial challenges, and you can find links in the show notes if you feel like you could do with that kind of support this year. 

And it’s also one reason I have created the FREE Calm Christmas Planner which you can download at dowhatyouloveforlife.com.

Rather than have to deal with debt come January, it can be more effective – and a lot more joyful – to take time now to think carefully about who you really want to give gifts to this year, what you can afford, and how to offer things that will really be appreciated. 

According to a recent article in The Guardian, us Britons are expected to buy fewer and cheaper items this Christmas – especially online – as the cost of living crisis forces many of us to rein in the celebrations. With budgets tight, online spending for Black Friday (24 November) is expected to be down by 2% year on year, despite high levels of inflation. It has predicted an 11% dive in sales of gifts as families add fewer treats for friends, neighbours and children than in previous years. 

-> What does this mean? Well if you are feeling the pinch, know that others will too. But I always find, when I read articles like this, that they are always written with a sense of doom and gloom from the perspective of the retail industry. But from the perspective of us and our wallets, and the environment, fewer more thoughtful presents given only to those we really want to give gifts to, might be a really good thing. 

These days, with so much access to credit, if we want something, we can just buy it regardless of whether we can actually afford it. We can usually have it in our hands within twenty-four hours. This is convenient, and it has given us far more choice than our parents and grandparents ever had, but it has also erased the thrill of delayed gratification, and made it surprisingly difficult to choose gifts that people really want or need. 

A survey commissioned by Braun found that six out of every ten presents given to a sample of 2000 adults were unwanted. Given that so many of us are stretching our finances and stressing about buying these unwelcome presents, this seems such a waste of money, as well as being dreadful for the environment and a wholly unnecessary burden on our collective mental health. And yet we keep on spending and giving, and the landfills keep on growing.

A major part of the reason for this is probably the social contract that exists in all gifting cultures. You buy for me, I have to buy for you, and vice versa. It is unspoken, and yet the feeling of obligation is there.

Every year, I see people filling bags and baskets with special offers in the run up to Christmas, muttering, ‘That’ll do for so-and-so.’ But surely, if you choose any old bargain as a gift for someone, it begs the question whether you should be buying them a Christmas present at all. 

Sometimes the best thing you can give someone is permission not to buy you anything this year, releasing from the social contract of exchanging presents, as you do so. 

Now is a really good time to have a conversation about this. 

-       Who do you really want to give a gift to this year? 

-       Who do you feel obliged to give a gift to but don’t really want to? Is there another way of getting around this – pooling funds with others to buy a shared gift? Setting a limit on what individual presents can cost? Or having an open conversation now, to agree to not give gifts to each other, instead sharing time or a beautiful card, perhaps.

Just last week I had a chat with my two brothers to talk about presents this year. We decided that we will only get gifts for the children, and as each of us has two children, we will put the six names in a hat and pull out two each, then buy decent presents within an agreed budget for each child. That way when we get together, each child has one fab present rather than a bunch of cheap presents they don’t really want or need, and the grown ups have saved themselves a chunk of cash and can just enjoy sharing time together and watching the children opening their gifts. 

At school, all the parents club together to buy one meaningful present for each class teacher, rather than flooding them with thirty cheap presents they may not actually want or need.

I love giving and receiving presents as much as everyone, but since being totally overwhelmed by the flood of presents when my eldest daughter’s first birthday coincided with her first Christmas, I have always made a point of not doing them to excess. We open them slowly on Christmas Day, to spread out the joy.

In the run up to Christmas I love watching my children sitting up at the counter while I cook dinner, highlighting things they love the look of in old-school toy store catalogues, knowing that they can circle as many things as they like, but that doesn’t mean those things will necessarily all turn up on Christmas Day. 

We love making a thing of writing Christmas lists – we usually go to a café by the sea, get a hot chocolate and get stuck in writing. And then we clear out old toys and clothes to donate, and think about who might be lonely in our community and how we can help reach out to them with a card, put fairly lights in our trees to help make our home look inviting, donate food to the food bank, and so on. They write cards to all of their friends, but don’t exchange gifts. Each year they decide what of their own things that they already own that they will give to each other as a Christmas gift and then they wrap it up.

It's not perfect. We still end up with too much plastic, and sometimes toys and games that never get used, but it’s not as bad as that first year, and over the past decade it must have saved Father Christmas’s elves a ton of work.

If you are worried about money, you can call the National Debtline on 0808 808 4000

for help here in the UK. 

What can I do if I can't pay my debts?
-  Talk to someone. You are not alone and there is help available. A trained debt adviser can talk you through the options. There are links in the shownotes to organisations you can get in touch with.
- Take control. Citizens Advice suggest you work out how much you owe, who to, which debts are the most urgent and how much you need to pay each month.
- Ask for a payment plan. Energy suppliers, for example, must give you a chance to clear your debt before taking any action to recover the money

Let me share a few tips on mindful gifting from my book Calm Christmas and a Happy New Year to get you thinking…

Take a moment to think about each friend or relative you really want to present with a gift this year. Ask what they need right now. Maybe discuss it with them well ahead of time. It’ll be fun and they’ll be touched by your thoughtfulness. Pick their brains with probing questions such as, ‘What’s your secret dream?’, ‘What’s holding you back?’ or ‘What are you curious about?’ This can help you to choose a meaningful gift, and your present will remind them that you really listened to what they had to say. 

Here are my three gifting guideposts to help you decide what, if anything, to give to someone. 

Gifting guideposts

Before you choose a gift, ask yourself:

1.         Is it mindful?

2.         Is it meaningful?

3.         Is it memorable?

Mindful means…

·      Is it appropriate given the current context of their life? 

·      Is it appropriate given their view of the environment and the world? 

·      Is it appropriate given their thoughts about parenting? 

·      Is it in line with their attitude to gifts in general?

·      Is it in line with what you can afford?

·      Is it in line with they can afford to give in return (so you don’t skew the social gifting contract)?

The following questions can help you choose a truly meaningful gift:

·      Is it linked to something they care about, rather than something you care about? 

·      Does it strengthen the bond between the two of you? 

·      Does it recognise their gifts and talents … and encourage them? 

·      Does it represent some aspect of your relationship? 

·      Does it enhance their life in some way? 

·      Does it offer shared time with someone they care about? 

·      Is it obviously personal to them? 

Together with my eldest daughter we created a Mindful Gift Idea Generating Machine which I have put inside the free Calm Christmas Planner this year. You can download it for FREE at dowhatyouloveforlife.com, and it comes with more than fifty ready-made mindful gift ideas. Help yourself!

And if in doubt, a book is always a good idea, but then I am biased. Also stay tuned for two lovely recipes which make great gifts!

An alternative idea is to give someone an advent calendar for an early Christmas present. You could fill it with anything you like – groceries, special treats, poems and notes. Anything to make someone feel cared for throughout the month of December. In her stunning book Winter Celebrations, Arounna Khounnoraj has a lovely idea for an advent calendar made with clay, wooden or cardboard numbers. You put a set of tiny presents in little paper bags, punch holes in them, tie string through and thread on a number, and then string them up with baker’s twine. Alternatively you could cover a small tree with these hung individually. Arounna reminds us “Making decorations and gifts for the holidays allows you to express yourself in ways that store bought items cannot. There is just something about handmade items: the materials and qualities mean anything you make will be uniquely ‘you’.’ I’d love to hear about your gift ideas – come and find me on Instagram @bethkempton and share with our community!

For tips on wrapping, you might enjoy digging into the archives of the Calm Christmas Podcast and listening to Season 2 Episode 4 Love.

When I was gathering books to inspire me for this season of the podcast I came across a book that my mum bought when I was in my early teens – I think it’s out of print now but it’s called Country Christmas, and it is full of atmospheric pictures of Christmas in the countryside. Reading through the wrapping section, I was reminded of many of the simple ways we used to decorate presents when I was a child. Here’s a snippet:

“First impressions count, and a present wrapped lovingly and with special care adds immeasurably to the pleasure and anticipation felt by the recipient. Wrappings do not have to be lavish or glossy, but attention to small details and an overall pretty effect makes opening a gift a treat in itself.

Straightforward materials such as brown parcel wrapping paper and old-fashioned string can be transformed with a brush of paint or a simple block print and a blob or two of real sealing wax. If children want to help, arrange for them to do some simple printing or spongeing on rolls of inexpensive cream lining paper or parcel paper. In one short session they will decorate enough paper to wrap all the presents you have waiting.

Choose a simple idea for the maximum effect, such as stencilling through a paper doilie or cutting a single star or tree shape in a potato or piece of pumpkin and using this as a block printer. You can buy small wooden blocks with slightly more complicated designs to do border patterns or neater rows of motifs…

You can recycle old glass jars, bottles and containers to hold gifts using gold foils and paints. Here presents are wrapped in gold-sponged paper and trimmed with gold foil, and a port bottle is embellished with a trail of leaves and a hand-written label.”

Just lovely.

 ***

And what about you? I loved these words in Sunrise Gratitude by Emily Silva (Rock Point p.179) entry for Nov 22 – ‘There is a soft beauty in receiving and accepting. Sometimes it can be difficult to receive gifts, praise or help. When we resist and don’t accept, we deny ourselves the energy of worthiness. Life is a balance of giving and receiving. When we give, it feels incredible. The same can be said of accepting if we allow ourselves to soften into it. Practice receiving today. When someone compliments you or extends assistance, simply say “thank you.” Notice how it feels to receive and not resist.”

Writing prompt

·      Journal what you would most like for Christmas this year. Here’s some inspiration in the form of a poem by Noor Unnahaar in New Names for Lost Things. It’s called [List of Everything I Want]:

The sun / a glass house incapable of breaking / the ashes of a name / some remains of the day / a love wrapped in ancient silver / a sky never turning crimson / a whirling heart / a city naïve enough to remember me.[2]

·      If you want to go further, be inspired by the idea of dreaming of a gift and turn it into a fictional short story or a poem.

Nature corner

-       At this time of year, be on the look out for starlings – when we lived in Brighton, the murmurations over Brighton Marina at dusk were amazing. Apparently each bird tracks the movement of those birds closest to it, so there is a slight time lag as the changes in direction move like a ripple, which gives the effect of a shoal of fish, or sometimes a heartbeat. I always wonder where the movement begins and where it ends.

Christmas traditions

The advent calendar 

-> @vicki.dale.3 in Scotland My favourite tradition is our advent tree from which we hang 24 labels and on each label is a Christmas activity for us to do which might be to write our letters to Santa, walk down our street to look at everyone's trees in their windows, an outdoor tea beside a fire with obligatory marshmallows, a walk in nature to collect pieces for our wreath on the front door etc (nothing too expensive or difficult to achieve to avoid Christmas stress and to help make the lead up more of a pleasure).... Every single action is a wee tradition in itself for our family but without the advent tree we wouldn't have the delight of the anticipation of what we're going to do together next and I just love that..... 

@joeytamburello I’m from Hertford in the UK ☺️ A tradition we have always had is to give to people who need items at Christmas! We donate toiletries to the homeless and most recently, since my dad passed away, we have started to buy toys throughout the year, which we then take to the children’s ward in the hospital he passed away in, for them to gift to the kids at Christmas! We call it Tamburello Toy’s after him ❤️ Xx 

@susi_haekelt When we were kids, the living room door would be locked a few days before Christmas. Very exciting for us children. On Christmas Eve, we would play in our room or in the kitchen until we heard a little bell from the living room. When we got there, the door would be open and my dad had lit all the candles on the big tree 🤩 This is my childhood Christmas memory from Austria.

Jacki Milbank @write.my.way My best friend and I have gone late night Christmas shopping on a Thursday in Norwich (UK) for that last 30 years plus with the exception of 2002 when my son was born by C-Section early in December (and of course, covid). We’ve always done this about two weeks before Christmas and always go for a waffle afterwards just before the shops close. In truth, as the years have gone on, the night has become more about the waffle than it has the shopping and what’s also funny, every year, without fail, we both peruse the menu and comment on all the lovely toppings, the specials, how good they sound and, I may try this, I may try that even though we know that we’re both going to have exactly the same thing as we do each year - cheese and mushroom for me with a side salad and mayonnaise dressing and ham, cheese and mushroom for my friend with a side salad with blu cheese dressing. We never waiver. It has to be the same every year.

Sherry @chasingcelticlight Our California Christmas tradition with our children was to bake Christmas cookies and deliver them to our neighbours who were home bound or living alone on Christmas Eve. A warm surprise delivered by little hands always brought a smile, a tradition that my children have all carried forward with their own children. We are spread around the globe now - I in Ireland and they in Berlin, Barcelona, and California.

Neza @bitingoncarrot I only discovered a true magic of Christmas after meeting my now husband, who comes from Finland. There is SO much I could write about, but I will share the one that is most special to our children All family gather for the Christmas dinner. And once everyone's bellies are full of magic Christmas food, we clean and gather in the living room. Soon, a knock on the doors...Children know what that means - it is Santa Claus coming for a visit with bags full of gifts... He comes inside, children sing to him and help him share the presents ❤️ He soon continues his way on to other children while we open the gifts and watch our children's eyes glitter with happiness, magic and wonder❤️ after it is time for a hot drink and sledging in the night on a near by hill, enjoying the family, red cheeks and glittering snow. Neža, Finland 🤍

@EmilyDall Since having children and moving to the coast we have created an unintentional tradition on Christmas week where the four of us will get our Father Christmas hats and reindeer antlers on and go to enjoy a big scoop of gelato ice cream on the seafront in the middle of winter 🧡 It’s become a beautiful tradition which feels like a secret between the four of us, and my son always keeps his fingers crossed the little family run Italian parlour will have his favourite pistachio ice cream on the menu that day ✨ (West Sussex, England)

@joannateod We moved to Ottawa, Canada, 20 years ago from Romania. You may know it or not, Romanian cuisine is full of goodies though cookies and gingerbread houses are not a staple. Over the years in our new country, we gradually integrated and I started to bake local stuff. Our absolute favourite holiday tradition has thus become decorating our Christmas cookies and Gingerbread houses, which I make from scratch.

@suepritchard_writer The little town where I live has organised a Santa sleigh for years. You buy a present and these wonderful volunteers travel around for hours on Christmas Eve delivering Christmas magic. It's beautiful when you have young children but still makes me well up now although mine are all grown up.

Craft

-       This week I have been busy making paper feathers bunting, inspired by a project in  Paper Christmas by Emily Dawe[3]. We are turning ours into bunting but they would make lovely gift tags too, perhaps with poems written on them. You simply cut out feather shapes from thin white card  (you can search feather template online if you need to), then use PVA glue to cover all or part of each feather, and then sprinkle on biodegradeable eco glitter. We tried lots of different ways, from just doing the edges, to the full feather, to one side of it, but most of all we liked them a third or a half covered, so they looked like they had been dipped in glitter.

Recipes

Harissa Piccalilli – This recipe is courtesy of Mark Diacono and it appears in his gorgeous book ‘Spice: A cook’s companion’[4]. Mark also writes a wonderful Substack with all sorts of recipes and gardening notes so don’t miss that[5]. 

Mark says ‘Piccalilli will always feel like Christmas to me, as – for no obvious reason – the old man would only have it in the house over the festive season… This, I promise, is as good as piccalilli gets… it has harissa driving the fragrant, lively bottom end along.’

Ingredients to fill 2 x 700 mil (1 ½ pint) jars – one for you and one to gift to someone else! 

1kg washed vegetables , cut into pieces no larger than 2cm – Mark suggests equal amounts of sugar snaps, courgettes, cauliflower and carrots

50g fine salt

600ml cider vinegar

120g granulated sugar

80g honey

25g cornflour

4sp ground turmeric

4tsp English mustard powder

3tsp celery seeds

3 tsp fenugreek seeds

3 tsp yellow mustard seeds

3 tbsp harissa – you can buy this ready made or Mark has a lovely recipe for it in the book Spice.

To make it:

-       Ensure the vegetables are relatively dry. Place them in a large bowl and sprinkle with the salt. Turn the vegetables over to distribute the salt thoroughly, then cover and leave somewhere cool for 24 hours. Rinse with cold water and drain well.

-       Put 520ml (1 pint) of the vinegar into a pan with the sugar and honey and bring to the boil. While that is happening, stir the cornflour in a bowl to ensure it is lump-free, then add the spices and combine well

-       Add a little of the remaining vinegar to the bowl and stir into the spicy flour to create a paste. Gradually add the remaining vinegar to thin the paste a little

-       Once the pan of sweetened vinegar has reached the boil, reduce the heat a little and add the paste a bit at a time, stirring constantly. Boil for a few minutes to thicken the sauce, stirring occasionally.

-       Turn off the heat and stir in the harissa.

-       Place the vegetables in the sterilized jars and pour the spicy vinegar over. Seal immediately.

Yum.

And back by popular demand, my own homemade granola recipe – this makes a great present in a one litre kilner jar tied with a ribbon, ahead of the new year

Ingredients - This makes a small batch but I usually make three times this amount and keep it in an airtight container – Mr K eats a lot!

-       50g each of any you like, ideally at least 4 different types. I like using hazelnuts, blanched almonds, walnuts, brazil nuts, macademia nuts, cashews, pecans and pistachios. The proportions don’t matter too much so if you have all of them, put them all in.

-       50g each of sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds, and then any others you like. Sometimes I add sesame seeds or flax seeds too.

-       50g each of dried fruit like sultanas or raisins. Sometimes I add goji berries, and cranberries are nice for a bit of festive flavour. Dried apricots work brilliantly too.

-       200g giant oats

-       A teaspoon of ground ginger

-       A teaspoon of ground cinnamon

-       A tablespoon of desiccated coconut (optional)

-       5 tablespoons of maple syrup – the more ingredients I have put in, the more maple syrup I put in

Giveaway

FESTIVE GIVEAWAY! This week I am giving away a gorgeous flatlay notebook from @ola_studio along with a personalized, signed copy of my book The Way of the Fearless Writer PLUS a free place on my Virtual Writing Retreat BREATHE WRITE REPEAT for YOU AND A FRIEND. This prize is worth more than £700 (around $850) and it is an opportunity for you to encourage one of your friends with their writing what a precious gift that would be for them - as well as encouraging yourself

Talking about presents…

It would be remiss of me not to mention, in an episode about gifts, that books make wonderful presents. Every year my husband Mr K asks me what kind of book I’d like this year – like a novel, or a book about a certain topic etc, and then he spends a lovely hour or so browsing our local bookshop picking out one he thinks I’d love. Almost without exception he finds one I haven’t heard of but which is perfect. And considering how much love and care goes into writing a book, they are probably some of the best value gifts out there. I always think it’s lovely to pair a book with something, like a cookery book with an apron or some dried herbs you grew yourself.  

Another gift which has real meaning is a workshop or online course related to something you know someone really wants to do, or you see they have a talent and know it could help them develop it. That’s partly why I always have my big winter sale at this time of year – I call it my gratitude sale, as a thank you to this community for being here, and making it possible for me to do what I do, and also because I know money is often tight at this time of year.

That’s why I am offering up to 50% off ALL my online courses right now at dowhatyouloveforlife.com. This includes:

-       My brand new LIVE writing course River of Words, my most intensive writing course ever, where I share some of my writing mechanisms and process secrets for the first time ever

-       My super popular hybrid personal development and writing course Excavate Your Life

-       My raved about Book Proposal Masterclass which has helped a staggering number of people land agents and book deals with top traditional publishers – this is for non-fiction including memoir

-       And my flagship personal development courses including Do What You Love and How To Be Happy, Calm, Organised and Focused.

These are all at dowhatyouloveforlife.com. It is 30% off individual courses and 50% off bundles of courses I have carefully curated to help you take steps towards your dreams – of writing, of making a major life change this year, of getting a book published… Come and have a look and see what might be right for you. Everything can be bought with a gift voucher, so you can send someone a hint and a wink, or print out the page and leave it lying around in your house somewhere… Just sayin’ Don’t miss the winter sale. That’s at dowhatyouloveforlife.com.

Right, enough about that. Here are this week’s get ahead tips.

Get ahead tips

-       Order any photo-related gifts online

-       If you want to make your own Christmas crackers, now’s a good time to start saving toilet rolls and order your cracker snaps before they sell out

-       And of course, to start planning your gifts for this year.

-       While you are out and about this week why not look for things to draw if you want to make your own tags and Christmas cards this year. What has a strong silhouette? Stamped gift tags (gold on black, black on red, gold/silver/green on white) + ribbons and simple brown or coloured/white kraft paper wrap and beautiful ribbons, as an alternative to patterned paper. Also buy one sheet of gorgeous patterned paper and cut strips like a belly band. Also fabric of course.

What’s coming up

-       Thurs Nov 23: Thanksgiving

-       Christmas markets – Here in the UK have now begun or open in the next few days in: Bath, Winchester York, and many big cities, Edinburgh from Nov 24. Also all over Europe dreamy looking ones include – Vienna (Austria), Nuremburg and Munich (Germany), Copenhagen (Denmark), Prague (Czech Republic), Gdansk (Poland), Craiova (Romania) Tallinn (Estonia)

-       Coming up: Last posting date by International Economy from UK to Eastern Europe Fri 24 Nov 

-       Next week Episode 4 DECK THE HALLS: Making your home festive and cosy

Outro

You have been listening to The Calm Christmas Podcast with me, Beth Kempton, produced by Untapped Talent. Don’t forget to subscribe, and please tell your friends.

If you have enjoyed the show, you might just love my book Calm Christmas and a Happy New Year: A Little Book of Festive Joy, which is out now from all good booksellers. 

For a peek into my perfectly imperfect Christmas preparations, come and find me on Instagram @bethkempton or on Substack @bethkempton where I also write about midlife, fearless writing, and my favourite ways to travel in Japan.

Stay warm and cosy my friend, and I’ll see you next week.