Christmas is murder – Christmas book review
Christmas is murder
by Val McDermid
Sphere, London, 2020
Age group: late teens – adult
Format: 256 page softcover
Whilst browsing a 5 storey bookshop in London (yes, genuinely 5 stories – it was fantastic!), I spotted this collection of short stories by an author I like. And I’m glad I grabbed it (despite having to lug it around in our travels!)
The story
There is no single plot, given it is a “chilling short story collection”, but there is a definite common thread of murder in the dozen stories by Val McDermid.
I have read a few of McDermid’s books in the past, and this collection was a chance to see her skills beyond a crime series.
My review of Christmas is murder
Lets start out by saying I prefer novels over short stories as a rule – I like the additional depth of story and that it lasts longer. Yet I really liked this collection and, for the most part, I think each story was complete – a couple of the stories could be extended into longer versions, but they all work.
I was pleased to see how many different ways Christmas was incorporated into the stories – the murder of Santa (spoiler alert – he is ok by the end), Christmas as one celebration in a series, hearing of a crime on Christmas Day, and more. However, the last half of the book has nothing to do with Christmas which surprised me.
Waterstones, the 5 storey book shop in London
Most of the stories are stand alone, but there is one with Tony Hill and Carol Jordan (from McDermid’s Wire in the Blood series) and one with Sherlock Holmes and Watson, plus Mrs Hudson.
This is most definitely an adult book – the murders and adult themes included are not child friendly. Having said that, it is not a particularly gory or graphic book.
Would I recommend it? Yes, I really enjoyed Christmas is murder, and am very happy to recommend it to others. Not for children though 😉
Making Christmas presents last all day!
Here’s an idea for spreading out the fun on Christmas Day by making the presents last all day!
Our family has always had a rule of one present at a time. This way we all see what each other gets and the reactions to the gifts we give, plus it makes it last longer than two minutes!
After all the anticipation of the day, why not make present opening (and the joy) go even longer?
When opening presents in the morning, keep at least one present each aside. These presents can then be opened at the end of the day when you’re back home or the visitors have gone.
If you have a small family gathering at home, then hand out presents 3 or 4 times during the day instead of all at once in the morning. It will build appreciation of each gift as well as make the day more exciting.
More Christmas elf antics!
December is speeding along so we have another 5 days of Christmas elf antics to share 🙂
Christmas elves are up to more antics…
Here is another week’s worth of antics from Tinkles and Ginger in the lead up to Christmas. Hopefully they can inspire your elves to have fun, too, or give you and your family some smiles!
An elf picnic
In the morning, we found Ginger and her elf friend sitting in the front yard for a picnic. With lots of fruit, cup cakes, and drinks available, they were eating a pie and a sausage roll. By the time the kids got home from school, both elves were enjoying an icy pole.
Smiley biscuits – or elves?
Smile! We now have a plate of smiley gingerbread biscuits – well, mostly smiling anyway – and an elf or two hiding amongst the biscuits with their own smiley faces!
Christmas elf antics include a zipline!
Tinkles managed to tie a zipline from the top of the Christmas tree to a window catch to create herself a zipline today!
Floating in the Gup X
With the warmer weather, Tinkles must have got a bit hot – that or she heard the Octoalert and responded – as we found her in the Octonauts’ Gup X floating in our (green tiled) pool!
A sleigh photo shoot
Ginger was having a sleigh bell ride while Tinkles was taking photos of her.
Just chillin’
I think the elves have picked up some teenage vibes and took on a favoured teenage activity – lying back with lollies and a mobile phone!
Biscuit decorating
With a tea towel spread out to catch any mess, Tinkles was doing a great job of decorating some biscuits in Christmas colours. Ginger was there, too, but I suspect she wasn’t really helping a while heap! In fact, I’d go as far as to say Ginger spent more time nibbling at a biscuit than helping!!
Playing cricket
No more elf sized games, Tinkles found a real cricket ball and decided to have a game with Ginger. Luckily she didn’t try using a full sized cricket bat though! The camping knife was an interesting batting choice.
What have your elves been up to? Maybe the above antics will inspire your elves to have some fun, too 🙂
Love Santa letters ~ final orders for 2022
Love Santa letter orders are about to close so get in fast if you want to delight the children in your life this Christmas!
Love Santa orders for 2022 close at midnight on Wednesday 14 December – that’s tomorrow night!
Every letter is still being read and edited individually, then enveloped by hand and mailed via Australia Post. Letters are being processed in regular batches and mailed straight away for orders this week.
Hopefully, Australia Post can then deliver the letters quickly – they’ve been doing a great job this year so far!
Ordering letters is easy, although we ask lots of questions to make each letter truly unique and special, so get your letters ordered now!
Any questions? Add a comment below or contact us directly.
Dirty Santa gift game
Have you heard of the dirty Santa gift game before? It is a family-friendly present exchange game. I only heard of it recently, but then discovered I have played this myself, just under other names.
Once, we played and everyone kept grabbing the gift my father wanted! It wasn’t so much we wanted it (let’s face it, it was a $3 item from Kmart!), but it became a game watching Dad sweat it out each time he regained it!
Alternative gift exchanges to dirty Santa gift game
- Dirty Santa – where the presents have to be second hand
- White Elephant
- Kris Kringle (although I use that term for something else, not a game)
- Christmas Thief
- Sock Santa – all the presents are in a pair of Christmas (or normal) socks
- Rock-paper gift game – when it’s your turn, if you want to steal a gift you have to beat the other person in rock-paper-scissors first!
- kings & queens Christmas gift exchange – instead of a number, everyone holds a normal playing card. Someone calls out the cards in random order and that person selects or steals a present.
There are also lots of of similar games, like the dice gift exchange, musical gifts and pass the parcel present exchange games, but that’s a post for another day! 
Playing Dirty Santa
- Ask everyone to bring a gift that would suit anybody at the event.
- You can set a theme (eg summer, Christmas, outdoors, funny, blue) and it is usual to set a price. The price you set will depend on the group and whether it is replacing more personalised gifts, but under $10, under $20 and $15-$20 are common limits for these games. To make it ‘dirty’, every gift has to be used – either something you have at home or something you grab from an op shop or trash ‘n’ treasure market. This rule is not always in place.
- When everyone is ready, make a pile of presents in the centre of the room or playing area, with everyone sitting around the pile.
- Everybody who brings a gift is given a number from 1 to however many people are playing.
- Person number 1 choses any present they like from the pile, and opens it.
- Person 2 picks any present from the pile OR takes the present from person 1. They cannot open a present then steal one!
- Person 3 picks any present from the pile OR takes the present from person 1 or 2. They also cannot open a present then steal one!
- And so on, until everyone has had their turn. Each person in the turn gets more choices. The last person obviously gets their choice of all the presents!
If your present is taken by someone else, you get to pick another present off the pile before someone else gets a turn. Sometimes, people play than person 1 gets the final choice from all the presents just to keep it interesting!
Getting your Santa number
There are lots of ways to get your number for playing dirty Santa. I’ve suggested a few below, but you may have another idea – and we’d love you to share it in the comments below!
- put the numbers in a Santa hat and everyone pulls out a number. Or write numbers onto a wrapped chocolate Santa or similar and everyone choses one from the bowl.
- play a game and the winner gets the highest number, second gets the second highest number, and so on. You could play some Christmassy or minute-to-win-it games, a who-dunnit game, rock-paper-scissors, a board game (Christmas Monopoly is a good choice!), an outdoor game like Finska, or any other game you like! You could even run a Christmas trivia quiz!
- do an elimination activity, with people getting the numbers in order as they are eliminated. Try ‘Santa says’, longest to balance on one leg, build the tallest tower of cherries, name the most Christmas carols, or balance some mince pies on your forehead for the longest!
- list everyone in order of age – eldest to get number 1 and so on
- put everyone in birthdate order – if you have a birthday on 1 of January, you get number 1, if your birthday is on 28 September, you get 28, etc. For two people on the same date, the lowest month number gets a lower number. it depends on the group as to how well this will work, but it can be funny to try!
- hand out numbers randomly as people arrive
- place numbers around the room or house and let everyone find them!
Have fun! And if you play this Christmas, use the comments below to let us know how it goes or share some photos.
Good deeds Aussie kids are doing in 2022
We have suggested good deeds in the past, but thought we’d share some of our favourite good deeds we’ve included in Love Santa letters this year.
- help Jane carry the table when no one else did
- collecting food to help the less fortunate
- taking the time to help others (like helping Jenny with her mail and Connor on the bus)
- being gentle with your baby sister
- using gentle hands with others
- trying your best at school /sport/music
- being such a brave kid with your diabetes
- having a loving heart
- are patient and considerate with your brother, and show such great resilience at school when things get tough
- being brave at the news of Mum’s cancer treatment
- using good manners
- being kind
- learning to share your toys/with your siblings or friends
- being a lovely human to be around
- you are a lovely young man who loves his parents and is respectful to his grandparents
There have also been a lot of ids cleaning their room and helping with various tasks around the house and garden.
Well done Aussie kids – you are champions and Santa is proud to put you in his nice list!
What good deed have the children in your life done? If you want us to help acknowledge those great deeds, order soon as 2022 orders are closing very soon!
Some Christmas elf fun!
Tinkles and Ginger and definitely back and having some fun as only Christmas elves can!
5 days of fun…
Here is some of what our elves have been up to so far this December… 
Sweet wrapping…
So Ginger was hard to spot in amongst the green and red m&ms but she is very cute in there. 
It was lovely to see Tinkles helping out by wrapping some Christmas presents for me. She was wrapping books when we found her – Yule not open this book, Dear Santa, The Hungry Caterpillar, and A Snugglepot and Cuddlepie Christmas should make some young relatives happy on Christmas Day!
Ahoy there elves!
Tinkles (in her high vis vest!) and Ginger are going out on the seas in a Lego ship and safety boat. 
Game day for elves
The elves set themselves up for some more conventional fun with some 10 pin bowling and foosball! We also noticed an extra elf had arrived to play with them!
Just hanging around Christmas
Tinkles and Ginger were found hanging upside down on their red swing on the Christmas tree.
Around the Christmas tree
Tinkles was a bit cheekier here – she and Charlotte have opened a box of bonbons and helped themselves! One has already been pulled so Charlotte has a yellow paper hat on her head and they attempt to pull a second bonbon! Just as well we had more bonbons than we have people on Christmas Day… Unfortunately, the joke was only funny if you know that Andy Murray is a Scottish tennis player who was world number 1 for 41 weeks.
Ginger was hiding in plain sight – sitting in a platypus Christmas ornament on our Aussie themed Christmas tree.
What have your elves been up to? Maybe the above antics will inspire your elves to have some fun, too 🙂
Christmas ransom ~ Christmas movie review
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Movie length: 84 minutes
Directed by Adele Vuko
Premiered: 1 December, 2022
We saw the ad for this Aussie Christmas movie and thought it could be fun to watch, so we did!
The plot
Set in Harrington and Sons – introduced as the best toy store ever – on Christmas Eve, Christmas Ransom is a comedy with a message of family. Derrick Harrington (Matt Okine) has taken over his father’s toy shop, and it’s no longer a roaring success, despite trying to do things just the way Dad always did.
Derrick tells his sales assistant, Pete (Ed Oxenbold) and security guard, Gladys (Miranda Tapsel), to head home. Then we spot two kids, Wombat and Brady, hiding in a ball pit in the store.
A tattooed woman (Genevieve Lemon) scarfs up as harmless old lady with her less-than-bright granddaughter, Sheron or Shez (Bridie Mckim). Taking Derrick and Pete as hostages, they demand a ransom from Darrick’s sister, Teressa (Vivienne Awosoga). This leaves Gladys, Brady and Wombat to try rescuing them.
My Christmas movie review
So this is an Australian Christmas movie that seems to be a mix of Home Alone and action movies like Die Hard, and Aussie classics like The Castle and Malcolm.
Apart from the Aussie humour showing through in parts and the fact it is warm (not a flake of snow in sight!), the Australian theme is clearly present. For instance, Santa letters are place in the ouch of a HUGE inflatable kangaroo on the roof and Aussie animals are toys and decorations within the shop.
It includes lots of humour, such as Greg-nog (from a fireman trying to win over Gladys the security guard), calling a woman the pregnant terminator, a girl saying ‘this is the end’ as a train comes toward her head (mind you, it is a toy train!), attacking someone with a pool noodle, and using tinsel and Christmas lights as rope and a squeezy toy as an ineffective gag!
Plus there is some kids’ humour, namely a nervous Wombat farts more than once and the smell is apparently terrible! My tweens found that hilarious. Of course, that becomes useful later in the movie.
So overall, the movie has comedy, romance, action, childbirth (guess where in a Christmas movie!) and an Aussie flavour. Parts of it are over the top, some bits are too predictable, and lots of it is fun.
Would I recommend watching this Christmas movie? Yes, this is a fun, family movie. It is Australian and kids will enjoy the toy shop setting. Don’t expect a brilliant movie, but you’ll get some laughs and the kids will enjoy it.
Santa Pete in the shop ~ Derrick & Terri as kids ~ Pete & derrick tied up by Nan and Shez ~ Miranda Tapsall as Gladys
Christmas elves are back!
Happy December! And welcome back to all those visiting elves 🙂
Did your elf make an appearance over night? Any surprises or interesting positions?
Tinkles and Ginger the elves
We were very pleased to find our Christmas elves, Tinkles and baby Ginger, back this morning. And this year, they haven’t been in quarantine so they’re up for fun straight away!
As always, there was a letter for my children and a couple of simple advent calendars. They have set up a little camp for themselves this year, which seems like a good plan.
We’ll share some of their antics and adventures over the next 24 days. It’s all part of the fun and anticipation of Christmas.
The Twelve topsy turvy very messy days of Christmas – Christmas book review
The twelve topsy turvy very messy days of Christmas
by James Paterson and Tad Safran
Century (Penguin Random House Group), London, 2022
Age group: 12 and older
Format: 304 page paperback
Doing some recent Christmas shopping, I spotted “the twelve topsy turvy very messy days of Christmas”. I admit it took me a little while to notice the full title as I just honed in on the 12 days of Christmas! There aren’t a huge number of adult Christmas books, and James Patterson is a good author, so thought I’d give it a go!
The story
Henry Sullivan and his twelve and fourteen year old children have avoided happiness and and Christmas for the five years since Katie/Mum died. This year, a mistake by the kids leads to an incredible series of events for the Sullivan family.
My review
This is not a typical Christmas-romance or a drama vaguely related to Christmas. It is an unusual story set in the days leading up to Christmas.
Things are a bit sad without Mum and without Christmas so the kids try to find Henry a date. One woman responds, a Ms Truelove, and things get interesting…
From a simple life in an okay house, the Sullivans are thrust into chaos that includes many birds, some cows and non-English speaking house guests! The animals make a mess and the guests take over the bedrooms.
Meanwhile, Henry has to win over his Dean, Ella is busy painting scenes for the school play, and Will has bikes, ‘friends’ and fights to worry about. This all adds to the chaos and the reality of this book. No one of the three dominates the book which is part of why it can appeal to all age groups.
Easy to read and with short chapters, it’s a good book for this busy time of year, too. Certain elements are predictable but there is a wonder how each expected action will be done. The overall story though is refreshing and is full of the unexpected!
The book was written in a way that helped me ignore the sadness underlying the book. Before the gifts arrive, the family has little food and no Christmas (or other) cheer. Henry has obviously been stuck in his grief and let his responsibilities as a father slide.
Of course, there is a happy ending and the chaos was good for the mourning family. I’m glad I’m not the one left with cleaning up the mess and repairing the house, though!
Would I recommend it? Yes! This book is fun and suits all ages except young children. It is Christmassy and quirky, and would be a good beach or holiday read, too!
Choosing a real Christmas tree
Choosing a real Christmas tree is a big deal in the USA (based on movies and TV anyway!) but not so much in Australia.
Whether you prefer fake or real trees, there is something to be said for having a bit of nature in the house and not having to store the tree all year!
We received a message from Jen detailing her story of choosing a Christmas tree from a farm near Melbourne. It sounds and looks like they had a great afternoon – thanks for letting us share your story and photos Jen 🙂
Our real Christmas tree adventure
As a newly blended family, we had a big adventure on Friday – selecting our Christmas tree from the Montrose Christmas Tree Farm.
You just arrive at the farm, walk around and look at LOTS of Christmas trees!
There’s no time limit so you can make it fun and special, or just a quick trip (although why would anyone want it to be a quick errand beats me!) We spent about 30 minutes walking around, just before they closed for the day.
One thing that amazed me was learning that they usually sell out within 5 days! And I noticed their website already says they are running low on stock for some tree heights!
The hardest part is probably choosing the tree… We mostly saw trees of one type, just different sizes. I’d suggest making sure you know how big you can fit into the house before going as it’s easy to get carried away on the farm!
Once we chose our tree, we blew our horn! They give you a horn when you arrive for this purpose. The boys loved the horns – they all wanted to squeeze it, of course! I’m glad they handed us a horn so there was no “discussion” of which colour horn we needed!
In response to blowing the horn, they come and discuss price. They chopped our tree down, which the kids enjoyed watching, and helped us get it to the car.
Getting it home wasn’t as hard as I feared – it fitted on our car roof, luckily! We didn’t get our tree netted or delivered, but they were options given to us.
We got the tree home, and named him Chris the Pine. Chris was put in pride of place in the lounge room (sounds better than put in his corner!) and festooned with lights.
Merry Christmas, and enjoy your Christmas trees!
Yule not open this book – Christmas book review
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by Andy Lee
illustrated by Heath McKenzie
Lake Press, Hawthorn, 2020
Age group: 5-9 year olds
Format: 32 page soft cover book
My kids love Andy Lee so I couldn’t pass up this Yuletide book!
The story
The nameless blue creature in the book is under a spell. Every time you turn a page in the book, the spell makes it look he has done something naughty. And the naughtiness gets worse with each page! The creature wants you to not open the book, nor turn the pages, to protect Christmas.
My review of Yule NOT open this book
Yule NOT open this book continues the series of Do not open this book, Do not open this book ever, and Seriously do NOT open this book. I like the play on words in the title – “you’ll not open this book” blended with Christmas by the “Yule” spelling. Not sure how many Aussie kids know the word Yule though! I haven’t read any of the other books but as they are picture books I don’t think you have to read them in any particular order!
This Yule book will certainly appeal to kids – it is their sort of humour 😉 Let’s face it, Andy Lee usually nails it for kids’ humour in his books!
Personally, the book just raised questions for me, lol! Spoiler alert – skip this next sentence if you don’t want to know the ending! I don’t understand how the spell causes all this trouble and then suddenly the creature can overcome it and tidy up.
I think kids would also love the concept of naughty things being done without it being “their” fault! And also giggle and perhaps feel a little shock when the creature threatens to tell Santa the reader is being naughty.
It’s a cute approach to Santa’s naughty list. The behaviours are ones kids can relate to – not eating their greens, playing with a ball inside, and make a mess. Even when he tried to write a letter to Santa, ended up being written on the wall!
In his letter to Santa, the creature included “hope you’re not too stressed”. I love that care shown for Santa – and the example of treating Santa well.
McKenzie’s illustrations are cute and tell much of the story. The pictures have fun details and show the naughtiness going on, yet they are simple with minimal background distractions.
There are some definite funny parts for adults. For instance, I loved seeing the creature drowning in broccoli and scrubbing out his own mouth with soap!
Would I recommend Yule NOT open this book ? Absolutely! This humourous Christmas book has fun, modern story that will delight kids and adults alike.
Even the back cover of Yule NOT open this book is fun to read!
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