To Yorkshire pudding or not to Yorkshire Pudding? Does bread sauce go with a Christmas meal? I'm musing over this and other festive food difficulties I've debated on social media.
Turkey

I'm not a fan of this bird really. I think if it was that great, why don't we eat roast turkeys all year round? I think it's a bit of a meh bird really. I prefer a duck, or a decent sized chicken.

Bread sauce

Traditionally, in the UK we serve this with chicken and turkey mainly. Apparently it comes from the Tudor times, when they ate bread with pretty much everything, including, so Himself tells me, bread plates. Home made bread sauce is a doddle, milk infused with an onion stuffed with cloves, then you stir in chunks of stale (or not stale) bread. You can also add some horseradish to give it a bit of a kick. And apparently, it can be eaten with all meats, and not only chicken and turkey.

Yorkshire puddings

Talking of things that can be eaten with all meats...Strictly speaking, this is for a beef roast only. For those who don't know what this is, it's a batter mix, just like you'd make for a pancake – flour, milk, egg – and you get fat in a dish really hot – so it spits when you put a bit of batter in, then pour the batter into the fat and bake it. It raises like a cake. Don't worry about sparkling water, or putting the batter in the fridge, that's all bollocks really. All you need is the batter and some very hot animal fat – it has a higher smoking point than vegetable oils, I use dripping. I use Clarissa Dickson Wright's Yorkshire recipe – 110g plain flour, 2 eggs, 300ml milk, or multiples thereof. So, bringing myself back to the question, to have or not to have at a Christmas dinner? I got into a bit of a heated debate on Twitter about this. Me, I think it's a roast dinner, therefore it has Yorkshire pudding. In fact, I once brought my own 'make it yourself' kit to a family friend's Christmas dinner. I arrived with the dish, some dripping and pre-mixed batter. They all scoffed at it, but everyone helped themselves when it came out of the oven, despite me only making enough for me and Himself. I let them tuck in as I saw it as a victory to my own logic.

Pigs in blankets

Cocktail sausages wrapped in bacon. Delicious. Have you tried dates or prunes wrapped in streaky bacon – devils on horseback, or angels on horseback they're called. The sweetness of the dates and prunes goes so well with the saltiness of the bacon. Try it if you haven't so far.

What do you think about including these with a Christmas meal? Have I gone too far with bringing my own Yorkshire pudding as a guest for a Christmas meal?

If that's got you in the mood for Christmas why don't you curl up with a couple of festive stories?
Christmas Serendipity
It's available from Amazon.com To buy from Amazon.co.uk

The Next Christmas (the sequel)
It's available on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com
Happy holidays! Liam Livings xx

I've been thinking about memories from previous Christmases over the years.

We used to have a large sack (a pillowcase) filled with our presents which would appear at the bottom of our beds. We also had stockings hung above the fireplace in the living room.

I used to help Mum dress the tree – artificial, green, dug out from the loft each year. My favourite decorations were a string of lights which were little fairy coaches like Cinderella went to the ball in, all twinkling in a green, pink, red, yellow, gilded with silver. I used to unravel them from the box and lay them on the ground, like train of carriages, taking a string of Cinderellas to a series of balls. Mum used to remind me they were for the tree and reluctantly I'd let her hand them up. I've just re-read that last section and rolled my eyes at myself…

The last few years we've always visited Great Auntie on Christmas day. She used to be taken to a local church meal, but when she got too wobbly on her feet they said she couldn't travel and weren't happy with the responsibility of walking her to the minibus. I made sure I visited her on Christmas day itself. We took some of our food, or I'd buy her a lamb dinner – she wasn't keen on turkey she explained – and jazz it up with some of our roast potatoes, or veg. We would watch her opening her presents and read her cards with a cup of tea, her face wide with the realisation all the presents were indeed for her.

One year, Great Auntie was in hospital over Christmas – she'd been having a series of falls and hadn't got steady enough on her feet to be discharged home – so Mum and I brought Christmas to her on the ward. It was a struggle, because Great Auntie was having one of her more confused days, and we had to explain why we were there, and who the presents were for and help her open them. She was most interested in the chocolate and fudge, never mind the calendar and socks! We walked her to a bathroom and washed her hair over the sink because it hadn't been washed for the fortnight since she'd been in hospital. Mum's a hairdresser by background and I used to wash Great Auntie's hair every time I visited, so between us we soon had it done, and Great Auntie sat, with clean hair in bed, munching on fudge and chocolate.

Another year, we stopped at Great Auntie's on the way to Himself's brother and sister in law's place in north Essex, near the border with Suffolk. As I started to hand Great Auntie presents to open, I noticed an unpleasant smell. After a bit of investigation, I realised she needed cleaning up and changing. Stupidly, when the home care agency had asked me which of the 3 visits that day could Great Auntie do without, as I would be there, I'd said the lunchtime one. This meant after a morning call, her carers wouldn't be returning until at least 7 o'clock that night, to put her to bed. It was mid morning at this point, and there was no way I could pretend to have a happy Christmas, knowing she needed to be changed and cleaned. I've done personal care work before, having worked as a healthcare assistant in nursing homes and hospitals for 5 years, so I wasn't phased by doing it. I walked Great Auntie to the loo, put on some gloves and got on with it.

Clean and smelling much nicer, we resumed opening presents, had tea together and Great Auntie ate her Christmas lunch.

It meant we arrived late to Himself's brother and sister in laws, but I couldn't have done anything else than what needed to be done. Later that day, a guest asked what we'd done that morning, before arriving at Himself's brother's house. I explained, and apologised for being late, saying what had happened.

'Oh, I couldn't do that. Disgusting,' came the reply as if I'd described swimming in a pool of sewerage.
'Have you got children?' I asked, knowing she had a daughter.
She nodded.
'Have you looked after her?'
'Yes, but that's different, it's a baby.'
'No different, you're looking after another human being who can't look after themselves, doesn't make any difference if it's a child or an adult. Besides, she's family.'
No more was said about the matter that day, while I tried to watch Steps The Reunion on Sky and avoid any form of board games.
It's beyond me why people have such a blank when it comes to looking after the elderly. Everyone is going to, all being well, become an elderly person. Society tends to focus on children, charities, parties, social groups, everything for children. But once you're an old person for many it's a bit too messy to think about and so many old people are shipped off to a nursing home, because it's the easiest thing to do, when for thousands of years, we've looked after our old, just like we looked after our young. I know people live far away. I know most households have two working adults. I know we are all busy, but looking after an elderly relative is just as important – more so for the reasons I’ve given – than anything else. It doesn't have to involve getting your hands dirty like I did, but spending time with them, holding a hand, watching TV together, all make a difference.
Research showed that the thing most likely to prolong an elderly person's life is them knowing they have people in their life who love and care for them – not people who are paid to look after them, but people who can kiss and hug them hello, can look through old photos, ask if they remember what it was like when they were a child. This memory therapy is vital too for the elderly. So this Christmas, make sure as well as spoiling the children, you spend some time with the Great Auntie or Great Uncle in your life.

If you'd like a bit of festive romantic cheer my novellas: Christmas Serendipity and the sequel The Next Christmas  are available now.

Christmas Serendipity
It's available from Amazon.com To buy from Amazon.co.uk

The Next Christmas
It's available on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

Merry Christmas,

Liam Livings xx

It's A Wonderful Life
This is a proper black and white classic. It's so beautiful how it shows the main character what would happen if he weren't around. Who hasn't wondered, even if only briefly, what the world would be like without themselves around? It's really easy to lose sight of how you affect other people's lives, just by being there, and this film is about being there for other people.

The Holiday
Jude Law – oh yes, I think this was pre-cheating with the nanny-gate. Cameron Diaz – to be honest I'll watch pretty much anything she's in, Bad Teacher, In Her Shoes, anything really. Kate Winslett – loved her ever since Titanic. I love how this presents a perfect image of Britain with a little village and a thatched cottage, all dusted with snow. If only everyone lived like that in the UK. The sub plot about the old man is pretty heart-melting too. Perfect. I've started to play a gay romance story broadly based on the life swap concept, so watch out, it may be out this time next year!

The Family Stone
This holds a particular place in my heart, because until my friend H bought it for me a few Christmases ago, while I was going through a very dark period, I hadn't heard of it. It arrived one day with a note about sometimes needing a proper cheesy movie just like this. It has Sarah Jessica Parker, Diane Keaton, a dysfunctional strained family Christmas, and it makes me cry every time I see it. If you've not seen it, please do so, forthwith.

Harry Potter – all films
I know, strictly speaking, this isn't a Christmas series of films, but every film includes winter / Christmas, as it covers a school year for Harry and his friends. I also seem to remember they all came out at the cinema around December. We have a tradition at Livings Towers, where we watch all seven films during December up to 2 January. Every time I watch them I see new things about the clever plot. You can tell JK Rowling plotted those stories, right from the start!

What are your favourite festive films? I'd love to hear.

If you'd like a bit of festive romantic cheer my novellas: Christmas Serendipity and the sequel The Next Christmas  are available now.

Christmas Serendipity
It's available from Amazon.com To buy from Amazon.co.uk

The Next Christmas
It's available on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

Happy Christmas everyone,
Liam Livings xx

I'm on RJ Scott's blog answering questions about Christmas as part of her 12 days of Christmas feature.
I'm giving away an ebook of my Christmas novella, The Next Christmas, so check out the link and comment for a chance to win the book.
Liam Livings xx

This is a question I'm asked quite often – in person in my front garden as people walk along the pavement and see me, and on social media. I thought I'd answer it here as people seem to be quite interested in it.

First, the reasons for why our cat, Domino is only allowed out on a lead and harness. We have lost three cats on the road outside our house in 27 months, we were averaging losing one cat every nine months. We used to think they knew it was a busy road and would avoid it, and play out the back of the house. However, this was proved wrong three times.

After losing Tigger in 2014, we had a few options with Domino: do nothing, and statistically we'd have lost him in another nine months; keep him as a house cat; give him back to the cat sanctuary so he could be adopted by another family; try him on a harness and lead.

Doing nothing wasn't an option and if we'd have taken him back to the cat sanctuary we had no guarantee he wouldn't get hit by a car with new owners. It seemed irresponsible to continue as we were, because Domino wasn't able to take the decision to be careful of the road, we took the decision for him; to protect him.

We tried him as only a house cat for 4 weeks or so, but he still asked to go outside most days, so we bought a lead and harness and hoped he'd be OK with it.

It didn't take long before he got used to the harness – he stands on the kitchen table by the back door and lets me put the harness on, then he leads me around the garden on the lead.

Although he can't go as far as he could when he went outside without a lead, he does get to experience the smells, the wind in his fur, digging in real earth, eating grass and basking in the sun, as he did before. And I think that enriches his life a lot, while still staying safe for him away from the road.

I know lots of people only have house cats, and it seems this is a more popular option in America than the UK. I certainly find myself having to justify why Domino 'only' goes outside on a lead, much more with British people than Americans.

In an ideal world we'd live in the countryside and Domino could roam far and wide, but we don't live in an ideal world, we live in a world of compromises, and letting him go outside on a lead is another compromise, but one I think is worth making if it means he avoids the thing that killed our other three cats.
How do you feel about house cats? Is it cruel to keep them inside? What about letting cats out on a lead, is that worse than just keeping them in as a house cats?
Until next time,
Liam Livings xx

Where?
Loughton Library, Traps Hill, Loughton, IG10 1HD.

Why?
WAW usually meets on the first Monday of each month in Upshire, but we wanted to try something different and spend more time together than the usual 2hour evening meetings allow.

When?
Saturday 23 January 2016, 10.00am – 4.30pm.

How much will it cost me?
FREE to join the Write In, and parking at Loughton Library is £1 for all day on Saturday.

What should I bring with me?

• Something to write with – a laptop, a pen and notebook, an Ipad – whatever you like to write with
• Ideas about what you'd like to write
• Yourself and maybe a friend who's interested in writing too!
  
  

Who can join in?
Anyone who has an interest in writing and would like to find out more, and meet other writers.

Who can I ask if I have any questions now?
Please email liamlivings (at) gmail (dot) com 

I'm thrilled to share this lovely review for the next part of David and Christian's story. We started off the story with Christmas Serendipity, and The Next Christmas is a novella telling of a the following Christmas between David and Christian. Here's Serena Yates' review on Rainbow Book Reviews.

The Next Christmas can be read as a standalone novella, but if you wanted, you could read Christmas Serendipity first, to find out how David and Christian met.

Here's the review for The Next Christmas:

David and Christian from ‘Christmas Serendipity’ are back, and after last year’s awful Christmas, when Christian’s parents told him “not to bother” to visit now that he turned out to be gay, I thought they deserved a better one this year. But while they have agreed to stay with Christian’s parents, much to David’s worry, the initial contact does not look very promising at all. It will take some doing for things to get somewhere near acceptable for two men who love each other as much as these two.

David is not looking forward to Christmas the way it is currently planned. Theoretically, now that Christian’s parents are speaking to them on a regular basis and have invited them for a Christmas visit, things should be okay. He is still worried about making a good impression, and about them judging him “not enough” for their son. Then he overhears Christian on the phone discussing sleeping arrangements – and David loses it. Separate rooms? Especially for Christmas? Why should he even bother? But as his best friend, Tony of the fabulous cocktails, tells him: “do it and think of Christian”. That made me laugh, but it also made me sad that some parents are so bigoted. As it turns out, there is more to the story, and I loved how Liam wrote the rest of it.

If you want to know how Christian and David are doing a year after ‘Christmas Serendipity’ (which you should definitely read first), if you like a distinctively British touch with your Christmas stories, and if you’re looking for a read that deals with real problems but does so in a very sweet touch, then you will probably like this novella. Oh and the ending? Absolutely perfect!

It's available on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com as well as the publisher's website.

I have another lovely review for The Guardian Angel, this time from Diversereaderblog.
I've copied it all below for ease too:

Review:

I love the concept of this story. Growing up I was always told that every person had a guardian angel. I’d love to believe that to be true. In this story Richard actually meets his guardian angel, Sky, and they fall in love. Now, that much you gather from the blurb. What I wasn’t expecting is that it’s not until Richard goes through a serious life journey does the happily ever after really begin. Richards’s story is all ups and downs. Nothing comes easy to him. Jobs, love, his family, friends. Things fall apart royally for him.

There are some things I feel aren’t properly addressed but other parts are addressed and explained in ways I never thought of. So it did balance itself out well for me. Sky is fabulous. I wish he had more book time than he did because his love for Richard and his adorable pure, fresh outlook on life was like a breath of fresh air.

This is a lovely story, fairly long, but very interesting for those who wonder what it would be like to meet your guardian angel.

Product Link: Amazon (US) | Amazon (UK) | ARe

It's been 'all go' here at Livings Towers of late, and this is my last blog for today, I promise! I just had to share with you a lovely 4 hearts review from mmgoodbookreviews for The Guardian Angel.

I've copied it here below too:

Review: I have only read one other story by this author so I wasn’t really sure of what to expect. The characters were well written and fully developed with a lot of quirks to them. The story itself was pretty sweet and tender; however it comes off as very long winded. There seemed to be a lot added in that was not really needed. It did the exact opposite of what it should have. The characters came off weak and needy to me.

Richard was having a difficult life to say the least. His kept losing his job, dating losers and was at a end. Then the white feathers just seemed to pop up. After a while he had asked his best friend what they meant, and she thought of guardian angels. A guardian angel telling him he was sorry for not leading him in the direction he needed. All was well, that is until that guardian angel showed up. Talk about a shock, but it didn’t exactly go the way it planned. He was falling in love.

Sky was new to the whole guardian angel job, but he knew he had broken the rules. He showed himself and then fell in love. He knew he was deep in trouble, and tried to fix it. Things were not going the way things were supposed to go. He knew they had to figure it out especially for the happy ending.

It is a cute story with a lot of twists to it. I admit that it had too many details to keep my attention fully. I had to put it down a couple of times before finishing it. I did enjoy reading it though. It is a very sweet story that involves a guardian angel falling in love with is charge. You don’t seem to see a lot of stories involving angels so it was a breath of fresh air. It was a fun read and I would definitely recommend it.

Product Link: Amazon (US) | Amazon (UK) | ARe

Another review that's made me very happy, this time from Prism Book Alliance.

I've copied the full review below too for ease:

My View:“Amaze yourself with your own daring.”
Here we are, the final chapter of the little epic of Kieran and Jo. I don’t mean to be dismissive, not in the least. It is little in that there are no major wars and no great geographical sweep. It is an intimate story about a young man becoming himself, and it is closely observed and written to the point where it feels as real as a memoir. Reading this book, as was the case with the preceding two, took me decades back in time, to my own university years. In this way the books have evolved from a sort of Young Adult coming out story into a New Adult taking on the world story. In all three books there is a deep emotional resonance that should touch the heart of anyone who remembers what it was to be starting out in the world as a gay man.
Here is the Kieran we’ve known since high school (called college on this other planet known at the U. K.). Although living in London, Kieran is still in touch with his parents, his friends Grace, Hannah and Kev. He has some new university friends, all Americans.  There’s the smart and approachable Janice, and the two Sarahs, relentless party girls doing their London university thing. I have to say, the characterization of the Americans is sort of horribly spot on. It is very affectionate, but makes me rather squirm to recognize my national character this way.
But at the core of this gently harrowing story is Jo, the witty, sparkling and seemingly devoted boy who helped Kieran come out and make his way into the gay world of late 20th-century Salisbury, England. Having been to Australia with Kieran and his family, Jo has moved to London to attend drama school. For all the intensity of their relationship, Jo seems oddly absent in Kieran’s life, caught up in his own studies at the other end of the city.
The action, such as there is, is triggered by two events: a thoughtless prank engineered by Jo that opens a Pandora ’s Box of doubting hurt in Kieran’s mind; and a shocking tragedy that leaves Kieran adrift and broken and in desperate need of the friend Jo no longer seems to be. The results are hardly earth shaking, but upsetting enough in their own way because the reader can see that there might have been an alternative story if Jo was a different sort of person.
The narrator’s voice comes from a decade in the future – i.e. the present – and he guides us through Kieran’s emotional odyssey, which, for all its smallness, is surprisingly distressing.  It is a reminder that seemingly trivial things can alter an individual’s experience, make his journey more difficult and more painful than it might have been otherwise. Kieran doesn’t suffer anything that many new twenty-somethings don’t go through, but we feel every misstep and poor choice as if we were making them ourselves.
I am grateful for Livings’ epilogue, which tells us what happened afterwards; it was particularly necessary in this case. It reflects the voice of an older and wiser man (but still very young, to my mind), looking back from a different place into the turmoil of his own youth. It is a quiet, almost anticlimactic finale to Kieran’s story, but nonetheless it moved me greatly.
Buy Links
Best Friends Perfect, Book 3 on Goodreads
Wilde City
Amazon US
Amazon UK