{"id":100977,"date":"2020-11-06T13:02:50","date_gmt":"2020-11-06T13:02:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/?p=100977"},"modified":"2020-11-06T13:02:50","modified_gmt":"2020-11-06T13:02:50","slug":"the-reverse-advent-calendar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/presenters\/julia-roberts\/the-reverse-advent-calendar\/","title":{"rendered":"The reverse advent calendar\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

While scrolling through Instagram on Monday, in my lunchbreak from copy-editing (more on that later), I spotted a post from a book blogger who I follow about a \u2018Reverse Advent Calendar\u2019. It\u2019s something I haven\u2019t heard of before, but I think it\u2019s a brilliant idea, particularly this year. For the month of November, you add one non-perishable food item to a box each day then at the end of the month you take it to your local food bank for them to distribute pre-Christmas. So far, my box has: baked beans, jam, pasta, tinned tomatoes, coffee and biscuits. I\u2019m sure you could play catch-up if you wanted to join in \u2013 I only started on the 3rd with three items going straight in. As you can see, Wilfie wanted to join in too, so I\u2019ll have to check the box carefully before sending off to the food bank or someone might get more than they bargained for! Thanks to Kaisha for her post alerting me to this and to those who\u2019ve already said on my social media that they are going to do it too \u2013 it can make such a difference.<\/p>\n

Talking of Wilfie, it was lovely to do a Charlie Bears<\/a> show yesterday, my first show back after my regular five-day break. Will and Charlie guested via video link and, for those of you who don\u2019t know, Will\u2019s nickname is Wilfy\u2026 hence the connection! We had a fun two hours together and isn\u2019t it amazing who you can train to operate the cameras these days.<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

That\u2019s Malibu, who I think sold out along with lots of the other bears, but you can check out who is still available on our website<\/a> if you missed the show. Big thanks to Ben and Liv, our studio staff for the show, who spent ages \u2018dressing\u2019 the set!<\/p>\n

So, most of the previous five days had been spent working on the copy edit for my next book, My Mother\u2019s Secret. I received the file last Thursday, but was too busy with work at QVC to open it until Saturday\u2026 so how had I managed to finish the copy edit by 3 p.m. Wednesday, a full week ahead of schedule? This has never happened with my previous books, so I\u2019ve decided to hang on to it and have a third read-through, as I keep thinking I must have missed something. I also need to write my \u2018acknowledgements page\u2019 where you thank people for their input to your book; cover designer, editor, copy editor etc. This one will include a mention for \u2018Teddy\u2019, Chloe Everton\u2019s gorgeous dog, as I borrowed his name for a cavapoo puppy who features in the book. Maybe I should also thank my \u2018roomie\u2019, Katy Pullinger, for the use of her surname for one of my characters, Ray. It\u2019s funny how you draw on people and things you know for inspiration when writing, even if you don\u2019t realise it at the time.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure it can\u2019t have escaped your notice this is the Elemis Christmas Today’s Special Value<\/a> weekend \u2013 seriously, I\u2019m hoping there will still be some stock left to talk about for my 11 a.m. show on Sunday morning. It\u2019s a beautiful gift-boxed collection comprising of five facial skincare products and three body products. There are three fragrances to choose from in the body products and also the cleansing balm, although the Warm Tonka & Vanilla option has the Original cleansing balm rather than a fragranced one. The other two options are Modern English Rose and Neroli Blossom, which is the option I selected as you can see in this short video, because it\u2019s the \u2018new kid on the block\u2019 and I like to be able to talk about things from experience:<\/p>\n