Francis Brennan: How to put a sparkle in your Christmas

There’s no easy way around this readers: a great Christmas present won’t be bought in the mad dash run-up to Christmas.

And it certainly won’t be bought at 4.45pm on December 24th . I don’t know how many times I’ve had people racing in the door of the hotel late on Christmas Eve franctically looking for vouchers for the spa [at the Park Hotel, Kenmare].

People who do that kind of last minute shopping just don’t have the time to really think about what kind of present they are buying for a person, they’re just racing through a list, crossing names off.