Things you won't want to miss in December

Your curated guide to December's arts and culture across the North West

Crisis in our house this week - the cheeky elves who invite themselves for a lengthy stay once a year were playing a game of Uno on the living room bookshelves when the sun rose, freezing them to the spot. So I had to wait a whole 24 hours before they’d moved on to their next mischief-making location before I could continue reading Andrew Gant’s Christmas Carols. It’s one of the books I dip into each December to get myself in the festive spirit - along with The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper and The Box of Delights (1984 TV version).

I’ll write more about festive traditions in a future edition of Stored Honey but in the meantime I’d love to hear about yours - click the comment button below if you’d like to share. Are there any books you read every year without fail? Do you light an advent candle? Is there a panto you always get tickets for or a carol concert you never miss?

Can’t say the elves are my favourite recently-adopted Christmas tradition, but at least they’re not the snitchy kind who report nightly back to Santa with reasons to knock you off the “good list”. No cinders in our house.

No cinders in this month’s recommendations either, which despite the time of year are weirdly not very festive - although there are a couple of Christmassy bits in here. I am most excited about David Hockney: Bigger & Closer (not smaller & further away) opening at Aviva Studios (I’ll be reviewing it in next week’s Stored Honey). And there are quite a few exhibitions you’ll need to get to in December if you don’t want to miss them. Plus I’ve included the usual something to see, something to read and something to listen to sections.

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