A Christmas shopping trip turns into a chance to catch up on pony gossip for Tessa Waugh , who is on the back foot as far as present buying is concerned but replete with tales of happy new homes

It was going to be a quiet festive season for me, just the way I liked it (I told myself). I’d gone back to spend Christmas with my parents in our small home town. This year, however, Mum and Dad were

With their husbands’ feud set to ruin Christmas, it was time for Carol and Rita to step in…

IT was about nine o’clock on a Friday night when we heard a vehicle pull up in the yard. You couldn’t miss it. I think it must have had a hole in its exhaust! Jip let the world know we had visitors. T

WHAT do you mean, no Christmas lights?” Abigail Thornton stood in the town hall, arms crossed. The announcement had barely settled, but already the room was stirring with murmurs of discontent. Alan F

IT was two days until Christmas and the afternoon sky was blue and crisp as Lydia’s car pulled up in front of the magnificent Bristol Hotel. Why was it called the Bristol? she wondered. It was nowhere