It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! With less than a week to go until Christmas Day I’m DELIGHTED to catch up with the uber-talented Heidi Swain who in the last twelve months without a doubt has become one of my favourite authors! Heidi’s latest book ‘Sleigh Rides and Silver Bells at The Christmas Fair’ is the perfect read for this time of year and I can’t recommend it highly enough.
So without further ado let’s get all Christmassy with Heidi!
Hi Christie, thank you so much for hosting me today and asking such fabulous festive questions. Answering them has certainly got me thinking about some very special celebrations I’ve enjoyed during Christmases past!
Where will you be spending Christmas?
With my family at home in Norfolk. When the kids were young, and we lived much further north, we would pack up and spend the holidays traveling around east Anglia and staying with different family members before heading back to Scotland in time for the new Year. Now however, we have nowhere near that distance to cover and enjoy a few quiet days together at home instead, having visited loved ones in the run up to the big day. I like to try and keep things as relaxed as possible!
Do you have any Christmas traditions?
All the usual ones I guess, but there are two in particular that are never deviated from. The first is making sure there’s room at the top of the tree for the kitchen roll, glitter and pipe cleaner angels the kids made in primary school. They’re getting on in years now, but can still hold their own!
The second is striving to ensure that I’m sitting down in time for Carols from Kings on Christmas Eve. This has always been a bit of a joke in the past as it’s been nigh on impossible to make it happen, but now I can just about manage it. I find it incredibly uplifting listening to those celestial voices as the light fades and the day draws to a close.
What is your favourite Christmas memory?
My goodness, where do I begin? There are (thankfully) so many. Childhood Christmases were always wonderful but having little ones of my own, and being responsible for creating their Christmas memories was, I would say, even better! Sharing the magic as you set out the mince pie and dram for Santa and the carrot for the reindeer, gazing skywards for a glimpse of the sleigh, (all things we still do) and making memories others will cherish have formed a part of all of my favourite Christmas memories. Being able to give make someone else happy is the best feeling in the world.
What’s the best present you ever received?
This is an easy question to answer – my best present has to be the cockatiel my mum gave me when I was nine or ten. I’ve had many wonderful gifts from my husband and family over the years, but discovering this characterful little peach and lemon faced bird, which I had cooed over in the pet shop every Saturday for months, was quite simply breath-taking. I had absolutely no expectation that I would ever own him, in fact, I never even asked, so to find him waiting for me Christmas morning was a complete shock. My darling Sammy lived for an extraordinarily long time and was an absolute delight to have around. Definitely my best present ever!
Favourite Christmas tipple?
Anyone who follows me on social media, especially Instagram, will know I’m rather partial to a Babycham, especially when drunk from one of the original glasses gifted to me by a very special friend earlier this year. I also love the warming feel and scented spice from a glass of mulled wine. I feel heady after just one sniff! 
Have you got a Christmas message you’d like to share with your readers and bloggers?
Gosh, now I feel like the Queen! Firstly, I would like to say a massive thank you for making 2017 such an amazing year. If it wasn’t for you guys I wouldn’t be cracking open the champagne to celebrate becoming a Sunday Times Best-selling Author and believe me, that’s the best gift I’ve received since my darling Sammy.
Secondly, don’t get too caught up with the present buying and keeping up with the Jones’s. Christmas is a time for family and friends and simple celebrations. Make memories, make merry, laugh lots and cherish your loved ones.
And last, but by no means least, brace yourselves for the opportunities and excitement 2018 is going to bring. I’ve got a feeling, that if we all set our minds to it, it’s going to be an absolute cracker!
Merry Christmas everyone!
Heidi x
