This time of year for me is particularly special as having fought myself in the 2nd World War I find less and less of my peers are around to share what I am still lucky enough to share with my family. A timely reminder of my comrades in arms comes every year when the Christmas tree is lit in Trafalgar Square. No doubt unknown to most who witness this yearly event,  the Christmas tree is a gift to the people of London from the people of Norway in gratitude for Britain’s support for Norway during World War II and has been since 1947. I like to head down with Gladys and take the time to think about those days as the tree lights up.

So tomorrow we will be there, wrapped up warm, our thoughts with those less fortunate than me. Then and even now.

Merry Christmas comrades.

It’s coming up to Christmas which means holiday season and valuable family time. However despite being the most festive and community orientated time of year, it is often the most stressful time financially with mounting gift requests, numerous events to attend as well as family holiday expectations.

The latter at least is being tackled head on by parents as they have chosen to cut down on holiday extravagances and contend with the good old fashioned ‘staycation’. A direct knock on effect from the weakening pound, global recession and climate change, holidays at home are being favoured over holidays abroad which has resulted in a noticeable growth in family days out in the UK.

Visit Britain, the national tourism agency for Britain, reported that approximately 17% fewer British people went overseas in the first six months of this year in a bid to save some pounds, a significant drop which correlates with the increase in domestic tourism.

Family days out are the nations favourite now and additional savings can be made as voucher and coupons schemes are becoming increasingly popular as British attractions weigh in on the surge of visitors staying on home turf.

Smartsave, recognised for its user friendly discounts, offer fantastic 20% savings with no restrictions on attractions across the UK for a variety of occasions…

.. For trips to London, for example, you can you can save significant £15.16 for a family of four to attractions such as the ever popular London Dungeon.

..For a less frightening experience, families in towns across the country can head off on an adventure and enjoy the challenge of treasure hunt with Huntfun saving 20% for up to 6 people.

..For those Chocoholics, Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without increasing those serotonin levels and saving £16.14 on admission at Cadbury World means extra pennies for appeasing that chocolatey appetite!

..and for those who seek a more educational day out, you can enjoy visits to museums such as the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Howarth, exploring Wuthering Heights country while you’re there, or the  North Bay Railway for those locomotive enthusiasts.

So for now the staycation is here to stay as there is evidently a plethora of options available to offer a bit of Christmas cheer to the family during this excessive holiday period.

1^st December 2009

Smartsave have been offering discount vouchers for 15 years providing families with savings on great days out and with no restrictions. On just one voucher print-out, a visitor can receive 20% off an activity for up to 6 people at any time with no obligation. Smartsave have a non-committal policy with no registration and no pre-pay required.

It so happened that it was news to my friends that the Dutch celebrate Christmas on 5th December and that the celebrated season actually commences on 14th November with the arrival of Sinterklaas (Sint Nicholaas) and his Zwarte Pieten (Black Peters).  This more traditional version of Santa Claus and his little helpers has a bit more of a sinister twist as the story goes that Sinterklaas’ helpers aid with the removal and dispatch of all naughty children to Spain! If that’s not enough to instil golden behaviour in your kids I don’t know what is! And so I managed to move the appeal of Amsterdam from the titillation of grown men to providing a great solution for child discipline.

I did explain that on adopting this tradition, generally gifts would then be expected by their youngsters on the 5th December and on 25th December…

…and the conversation soon returned to Christmas stockings…

We’re going ice skating this weekend! We’re going ice skating this weekend!

Mum and dad are taking Jacob and I to the Natural History Museum to see the dinosaurs and after learning about the dinosaurs we’re going skating on the ice rink! I’m sooo excited because I love ice skating and I especially love laughing at Dad when he tries to skate because he always wobbles and falls over. Jacob has never been before and I’m not too sure he’ll like it because he’s a boy and will probably be as bad as dad!

Then… on Sunday we’re going to see Santa Vs the Snowman at the Science Museum in 3D and have snowballs chucked at us from the cinema screen. Eek! I hope I don’t get snowed under!

Mind you…it would be funny if we went in as humans and came out as snowmen!

So low and behold, someone asked me today what I was doing for Thanksgiving, which took me a little by surprise. Thanksgiving? I had to take a step back in my mind and think about it. I have never celebrated Thanksgiving before and I wasn’t really sure what exactly the celebration was or what exactly was expected of me during this event of much appreciation. After a little web browsing I soon discovered its origins (thank heavens for Wikipedia!), in short, a celebration of the first cooperation between Native Americans  and English Colonists as the natives proffered their cornucopia of harvested fruits and vegetables. The description reminded me of Harvest Festival day back in the school days of yore when we used to take in a tin of beans to send off to the children over in the third world.  That and along with the infamous stuffed turkey which mirrors our Christmas dinner, it seems the tradition is not so unfamiliar, and despite it not being our Thanksgiving celebration I’m thinking that perhaps it wouldn’t be totally unwarranted to enjoy a bit of thanks after all my giving!

With Christmas in sight the nation is trying desperately to tighten their purse strings and in doing so have re-discovered those age old money saving vouchers. A step on from the traditional cardboard cut-out coupons, Smartsave are paving the way with their online discount vouchers offering significant savings with a difference. The requirement to collect copious amounts of coupons to claim your discount, fill out endless registration forms and in some cases pre-pay in order to obtain the elusive offer is no more as Smartsave’s discounts have absolutely no restrictions.

Listed in the Times Online top ten discount websites, Smartsave is quickly being recognised for its value for money and no nonsense discount scheme. Offering a 20% discount across the board on all its listed days out to attractions and restaurants (including both food and drink!) there’s no denying that Smartsave have led the way with their user-friendly ‘Print and Present’ scheme.

Recently listed in Captain Crunch’s top economizing tips in The Sun for its ‘hot ticket savings’, Smartsave comes up trumps with its open ended discounts accessible all year round with no sign of the customary redemption deadline. As “Two in five of us use vouchers at least TWICE a week”, Captain Crunch is on a mission to educate the nation about the value of vouchers and coupons and Smartsave is a gleaming example.

Smartsave have been offering discount vouchers for 15 years providing families with savings on great days out and with no restrictions. On just one voucher print-out, a visitor can receive 20% off an activity for up to 6 people at any time with no obligation. Smartsave have a non-committal policy with no registration and no pre-pay required.

For more information contact the Press Office at discountbritain@metropolis.co.uk

Smartsave, Metropolis International Group Ltd.

Unit 101 | The Perfume Factory | 140 Wales Farm Road | London W3 6UG

www.smartsave.co.uk

25th November 2009

Well, we call it a natural disaster but the question really is how natural a disaster is it?

We both visited Nature’s World,  on the other side of the country in Middlesbrough,  just a few weeks ago and it really opened our eyes to the responsibility we all have for the protection of our environment. The centre, which is a fun and informative environmental complex, focusses on sustainability and looking to the future as we try and grapple with the impact of climate change.

We’ve all noticed the change… even George and I in our humble little cottage. The weather has been noticeably milder in this last year with temperatures unusually high at times (to the stress of our elderly barely beating hearts) and remaining so for much longer. The met office earlier this year noted that the ‘UK is likely to see hotter, drier summers and warmer, wetter winters coupled with more frequent extreme weather such as flooding, heatwaves and droughts.’  So why are we not pushing to reduce our emissions with more urgency? Does it take the destruction we’ve seen in Cumbria to make our government take note? Was Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and the Tsunami in Indonesia not a warning enough that we are slowly destroying our own homes? It would do well for all our politicians to visit Nature’s World and see how we can look to the future and reduce our carbon footprint.

In the meantime there’s much re-building to be done and reflecting on how we can possibly prevent another man-made disaster.

I’m really excited and at school today we were asked if we want to be in the school nativity play. I said I wanted to be in it but that I didn’t want to be Joseph because he says too many words and also he has to walk a long long way. Our teacher told us that if we want to be in the nativity that we had to write down who we wanted to play. I said I wanted to be a sheep because when I went to Sherwood Forest Farm Park we saw the sheep and they were very friendly and looked really warm and cosy and all they say is Baa!!!

Heeheehee!

So, what’s on the crunching Christmas list this year….

1   x     Wii Fit

1   x     bottle of YSL Parisienne perfume

1   x     Ugg Boots (2 if you count each pricey boot!)

1   x     leather gloves

1   x     a laptop bag that doesn’t look like a laptop bag

1   x     a float session (the latest fad I presume:  I’m thinking I could           possibly get  away with booking a day at the local baths for this one)

So all my hard work and savings are about to go to wipeout…and that’s just for the wife! I’ve not even started on the kids list!

….I’m picking my moment to reveal my Christmas wish to spend a full day at the indoor golf centre with chums…

Ho ho ho Merry Christmas!

Surely by now some sort of magical wand has been invented to create the illusion that school is actually Pleasurewood Hills, as in these such circumstances the bed would most definitely be vacated before Mum has even reached the door….Oh Mr Potter! You instilled such possibilities in using wizardry as a parenting tool that it’s hard not to be disappointed when it doesn’t work!