Christmas

An Oklahoma mother-of-three says Christmas Day of 2016 was the worst day of her life, when her ex-boyfriend turned up on her doorstep and shot her twice in front of her children — but now, three years later, she is determined that her kids enjoy the holiday. Stacy Anderson, 40, had been with Adrian Permetter, 38, … Read more

Four trees…one as tall as the house Nicola Pastor, 39, is a full-time mum and lives in Wigan with husband Marc, 47, an investor, and their children Ruby, 13, Emmie, 11, and Louie, three.  She says: Our house has been shimmering with Christmas sparkle, inside and out, since the last week in November. Visitors frequently … Read more

How to cook your festive feast in 30 minutes flat: The quick Christmas meal option for those who are hard-pressed, eating alone or unlucky enough to be working on the big day By Rose Prince for the Daily Mail Published: 00:03 GMT, 21 December 2019 | Updated: 01:59 GMT, 21 December 2019 How long do … Read more

Every year, Sir Michael Barton considered it his sacred duty to chop down, and then decorate, a pine tree from his Cambridgeshire estate on the day of his Christmas party. He liked to leave it as late as possible because the tradition had become a natural punctuation point in his life, marking the moment when … Read more

Don’t be too hard on yourself if you fail to avoid plastic altogether, writes Kirstie Allsopp, pictured above There’s no denying Christmas can be a riot of excess plastic.  We will throw out almost 100 million bin bags of packaging over the festive period — that’s 114,000 tonnes of plastic. Most of it will end up … Read more

With Christmas just a few days away, it seems Twitter has chosen the most controversial toy that will be left under the tree this year: a plastic Fisher-Price charcuterie board that has caused uproar on the social networking site.  The $19.99 toy turned into an unlikely viral sensation this week when Twitter users began sharing … Read more