We at His & Hers wish you a Merry Christmas.
Feature by Jean Hill
I cannot say how it came to be but the countdown to Christmas comes with foreseen and unforeseen challenges. Or as Donald Rumsfeld said when he was American Secretary of Defence: ‘there are known knowns, there are known unknowns and then there are unknown unknowns’. Who knew there was going to be a shortage of Guinness this Christmas! You knew the spare room (the dumping ground for almost anything and everything) would be needed for a Christmas visitor, but hey Christmas is years away, isn’t it! Who knows how or why the to do list keeps getting longer and nothing much gets an ‘accomplished’ strike through. Your ‘can do’ attitude cannot be faulted. Could if I wanted to…folds to floundering a bit in the shallows…eventually in the thick of it. Deep breaths!
Life is complicated. Focus on your own priorities to avoid feeling overwhelmed. If only. Be organised: the key to your ‘success’ lies within your own grasp. If only and first define success. Eat well, but most importantly eat well (healthily). Guide to a stress-free Christmas: I would say fly to a Paradise like island (funds permitting), but getting a flight off the ground at Xmas is sometimes fraught. Do not spend beyond your means, just to impress others You cannot be serious, have you checked the price of a turkey this year (hey gang we have just gone vegetarian). Keep it simple. If only. And yet…
Put up the decorations and the Christmas tree. It will not matter if you reprise the decorations each year. The family will still love it all. I love the chance to see friends and family, just to relax into it (whatever never got done). I love wrapping the presents and see them safely stacked under the tree. I love watching small children opening their presents; the excitement, just the sheer fun of it. I happen to love cooking too. Organised chaos works for me. Some folk unwrap Christmas out of a box. Some folks order it from M&S. Some move into a hotel and eat out for the festive season. Some folk fly off to exotic destinations. Whatever floats your boat.
The underlying meaning of Christmas is hope, and then the joy of giving and the key to unlocking it all is love (we got to love one another). This seems like a good time to give a shout to all the lovely restaurants we visited and great experiences we have had through the year. We hope for the very best for them and for all our lovely readers.
The Tiffin Room: offers gorgeous Indian food with subtle interpretation and fine spices.
The Watering Can: does fabulous food in idyllic setting within Greenbank Park (great Sunday roasts)
Gaucho: has the best Argentinian beef, finely curated and prepared beautifully.
The Olive Tree: is a great family restaurant where we will be enjoying a lovely Christmas Eve meal (great Sunday roasts)
Novotel: is a truly beautiful hotel in Paddington Village (Kensington) where we had the best bottomless brunch in great company
Flight Club: turns out we are good at darts. Who knew. We enjoyed delicious Xmas dishes and loved the whole experience.
Liu Shi: was a great experience. Beautifully prepared Chinese food served in a very stylish setting.
Fuzzy Duck: lies beneath Liu Shi and my first experience of a duck burger. Turned out to really succulent.
Bacino: is the restaurant inside Flannels in Liverpool. Impressive chef; beautifully prepared Italian food
Gino’s Italian at INNSiDE: we have seen some really original art exhibitions and cultural events in the hotel and enjoyed a fine Italian meal in Gino’s restaurant in the hotel and a divine afternoon tea in the 360 Sky Bar
Royal Albert Dock: offers a wealth of really good restaurants and the magical Light Trail at Christmas and Tate Liverpool, always worth a visit.
Marco Pierre White at Hotel Indigo: we enjoyed a friendly and informal setting with really good food
Southport Flower Show: showcases food, flowers, show gardens, displays with entertainment, experts and lots of stalls (buy all my iris, daffodil and lily bulbs here and great crafts too)
Metquarter: Visit The Art Quarter (a fabulous co-operative), Say it with flowers, Cricket, Fairytale Endings (very stylish dresses for every occasion); all this and Everyman cinema too
Northern Design Awards: this year it was held at St Georges Hall. Altogether an amazing experience, great food and inspirational interior and exterior designs that all deserve an award.
Hot Shots AR darts at Cains Brewery: friendly, sprawling, great venue with lots of dedicated space for darts parties. The memorabilia is well worth seeing too.
Knowsley Hall: this is the most beautifully setting. Rolling landscape, stunning interior, with some Lear paintings to ogle and a superb afternoon tea with an accompanying string quartet. Truly memorable.
Lost Wirral: is a supper club in a secluded venue with an enviable menu, beautifully prepared food. Impressive location with stunning views and they do events including weddings.
San Carlo: we have enjoyed eating in the main restaurant and more recently had a wonderful meal in a lower level art deco dining room, available for parties. The food and wine were divine and the company was brilliant: quite an experience.
There it is! And high hopes for a Happy New Year.
Here is the thing. Not everyone is having fun (some could be feeling really worried and anxious) and could be struggling to believe in a rosy future. So here are some contact details when people feel isolated and in need of support. You might also want to support charities that help all year round and especially at Christmas.
https://www.whitechapelcentre.co.uk
https://www.samaritans.org/break-the-silence
Call Samaritans: 116123 and 03300945717
https://www.trussell.org.uk/winter-ppc
https://www.crisis.org.uk/get-involved
https://www.redcross.org.uk/stories/our-movement/our-people/ways-to-donate-to-charity-this-christmas
https://www.helpforheroes.org.uk
https://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk
https://www.mind.org.uk/donate/acq-christmas
New on the website: Royal Albert Dock unveils the new snowy Christmas Courtyard and reignites the Light Trail
