As the Holidays approach at a scary rate, what is the thing that you dread most? Is it squishing the turkey into the two sizes too small cooking tin? Is it writing out cards from the whole family and wondering how it got to be "your" responsibility? Is it perhaps explaining to your children why they celebrate the season differently to their school friends? Is it standing in queue after queue trying to get THE "must have" toy this year. Many traditions evolve from love and years of watching happy faces as a result of the effort we put in during the preparation - but there must be one thing that you would rather let someone else do if you could. Write about it: What is it? How did you start doing it? Why do you continue doing it?

Your exercise today is to incorporate all of the following words into an article, short story, poem or whatever comes to mind. You must use all of the words (in any order) to complete the exercise, but the context in which they are used is up to you. Think about the words for a few minutes before you start to write and see what pictures come to mind - then see if you can weave them all together into a piece of writing.

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Thinking back over 2002, what’s the best piece of news you’ve heard? It could be personal, it could be something you read in the local paper, or something you saw on TV. Write down what the news was about, and then say why it made you happy.