Christmas is upon us and whether you are under the depths of snow drifts or baking under a hot summer sun, I am sure you all have some sort of plan for the day. How’s it going? Not long now! I’m so glad that I have avoided most of the media splurge of how a perfect Christmas simply has to be. I can’t bear all that material fussing. Mind you I did enjoy a wander around the Christmas market in Edinburgh with a plastic cup of mulled wine a couple of weeks ago!

This year, I will be at home with my husband and his family for Christmas in Rio de Janeiro. Tradition has family coming together to party through Christmas eve up to midnight when presents are exchanged and their traditional dinner is enjoyed. This year, I have been feeling the urge to recreate my familiar British Christmas experience and to share it with my Brazilian family... so I rashly found myself (under theinfluence of a beer it has to be said) announcing that everyone was invited for a traditional Christmas dinner on the afternoon of the 25th... which is normally spent relaxing and recovering.

That instantly killed all surrounding conversations into a stunned silence and noticeably confused and worried look on my husband’s face. Everybody knows that I can’t cook and that I have no real desire to start learning how, let alone like it. It’s made all the more interesting by the fact that as a vegetarian I make a point of avoiding all contact with ‘previously living’ foodstuffs. But that beer must have been a strong one, because I didn’t retract my invitation and I actually became very excited about the prospect of throwing a Christmas party. But now I have 8 real people to cater for. And I don’t think a slice of Christmas cake will cut it.

My lovely friend Di, is a fab cook and she whips up a roast dinner in no time, so can a Christmas dinner really be that hard? Today I have been trawling the internet for how to cook a turkey and so far the most complicated thing seems to be how long to cook it for. But I’m slightly concerned that I haven’t even bought the poor bird yet, so will she actually defrost in time anyway? And can I follow cooking instructions referring to a British room temperature while our kitchen here seems to be permanently 30C+? Well, I am sure I can manage to roast some vegetables and do my mother’s famous bread sauce proud, so at least no-one will go hungry. I’ll just merry everyone up on mulled wine as soon as they get here. Good plan Sally.

Anyway, enough about me!

Over the last couple of weeks I have managed to link up with Jane Sheehan and Chris Stormer-Fryer, but on different sides of the world! In Edinburgh, I caught up with Jane on day 1 of her Foot Reading workshop and had great fun rediscovering my toe line along with 16 other lovely foot souls. And just a few days ago, I landed into Johannesburg and experienced the enchantment of Chris’s Kingfisher Farm out in the African bush. It really is a very special place and already set up as a retreat venue. There is even an outdoor pizza oven and a ruin that has been transformed into a creative stage area and outdoor therapy spaces. Genius!

But, more about that next time...

After Christmas, Steve Judd will be sharing a special forecast for the coming year and Feng Shui expert, Roseline Delieu tells us how to work with the energies of the ‘pre-loved’ items that come into our lives.

So for now, all that remains is for me to wish you all a Magical Christmas and may 2010 bring you abundance all-ways!

Love and hugs, Sally x