His approach is playful, sentimental and hopelessly romantic. His gifts speak to my whims and ambitions, my temporary crazes and everlasting loves (for example, a book on Big Macs and Burgundy which must surely have been published with an audience of me alone in mind). There’s always a tree decoration, a half bottle of champagne (the most generous kind, given without the intention of sharing) and a large bunch of mistletoe, for obvious reasons. It is very hard to wrap mistletoe.
In contrast, last year, my theme for him was Extremely Domestic Items. The highlight was air freshener pellets for the vacuum cleaner (£7.99 Robert Dyas). For context, the guts of our hoover has a squalid smell I’ve never managed to shift, I wonder if there’s a rotting mice carcass in there or something equally sinister? Either way, imagine my delight at discovering these ingenious little life hacks?
In previous years, I’ve embraced other equally exotic themes. My boyfriend loves nuts. No, really. It’s an incredibly boring special interest but he does have other redeeming qualities (see above). For Nut Advent, I did struggle to find enough interesting and charming nutty purchases. It took commitment and creativity once I’d exhausted all the obvious (KP, Nutcracker, Aesop Camelia Nut Facial Hydrating Cream), I had to resort to Nutchup (Nut Ketchup, unopened, still in the fridge), a book on the history of nuts (why?) and a slogan T Shirt proclaiming “May Contain Nuts” (I was desperate).
I’ve had better years. There was Pudding Advent for my son, presented each night with a flourish of a silver cloche, camply engraved at Timpson’s with “A Feast of Advents for Kit, Christmas 2022”. Sometimes he got lucky with a Terry’s Chocolate Orange and sometimes it was just a yoghurt, slightly approaching its sell by date.
Another hit year was Meat Advent. This was a family affair because it was basically supper, rebranded. It came with a hand illustrated menu, stuck to the fridge, and involved an introduction to a variety of new meats including Kangaroo sausage, a duck à l’orange and plenty of dubious pies. During this era, Kit memorised all twelve steak cuts listed in the Quality Chop House cookbook; it was definitely a phase. But the party game “name that steak” remains a favourite, even today.
For my mother, I’ve gathered a Haberdashery Advent. She makes all the textiles for our dolls houses so scraps of vintage fabric, fine silk embroidery threads from Maison Sajou, patches from Hand & Lock make for a fine selection.
