What matters most

Sarah looked down at her shopping list again, frowning. Why on earth had she been so pig-headed? Her parents had offered to do Christmas. So had John’s. But no. She’d insisted: since this was their fi

THIS year, Vanessa was going to have a different kind of festive season. She usually hosted Christmas for her family at her house, even after her husband passed away a few years ago. Every second year

HELLO, little one!” Penny Dauntless greeted a robin-redbreast, who cocked his head as she pushed along her trolley of post on the daily round. “How often is there such a perfect mid-December morning?”

GOOD morning! Seems like we’re both up bright and early today!” Dianne Fernsby smiled at the red-breasted visitor who hopped about on the bird table close to her kitchen window as she filled the kettl

OK? Ready?” “Yep.” Fi smiled at Brand. She then picked up the bags full of presents, hoping her face had been convincing. There had been a time when she’d loved these family gatherings at Christmas bu

HAMISH, I’m just going down to the shops to buy another couple of workbooks for the children,” Nora called out. Hamish rolled his eyes. “They’d probably prefer to collect tadpoles from the pond in the