Christmas Characters: This Week, The Nature Girl

NOBODY DOES CHRISTMAS LIKE BUTLERS, THE IRISH FAMILY-OWNED LUXURY CHOCOLATIER WHOSE DELECTABLE NEW CHRISTMAS COLLECTION HAS LANDED IN STORES.
IN THE RUN-UP TO CHRISTMAS, WE FIND GIFTS THAT EVERYONE WILL LOVE, FROM THE DIE-HARD CHRISTMAS SCENE-SETTER, TO THE DISCERNING HOSTESS, TO THE PARTY GIRL …

Anna’s friends have started to call her “Anna Mirabilis”, so inclined is she to wax lyrical about her lockdown Road to Damascus moment, when she looked up and saw clearer skies, heard the birds singing and realised she had not noticed the seasons change for about a decade.

Anna has decided the environment is now her spiritual calling. She is now frequently sighted on various beaches where she embarks on spontaneous clean-ups, hectoring winter swimmers who dare to leave litter on the sand when they go in for a dip. She’s also petitioning her landlord to install a bee hotel on the apartment rooftop, gathering signatures from other residents. Much of the autumn has been spent making fat balls for birds and distributing them to friends.

Anna has embraced all things Danish in the process of her conversion – from friluftslive “free air life” – so grounding – and as well as their love of “levende lys” or candlelight (her electricity bill has been a fraction of its normal quarterly sum). She’s been learning the language on Duolingo app – so handy when binge-watching The Bridge – Sofia Helin is her style icon, or is it Saga Noren?

She shows no sign of PF (pandemic fatigue). Christmas has presented Anna with further conservational outlets – foraging for decorations, making dried citrus garlands for the tree and potato-printing her own wrapping paper. Not a scrap is wasted in her home, while hand-drawn mandalas adorn her Christmas cards, in which she has placed her Calendar of Goodwill – an advent calendar of ideas to feed the soul.

During these creative soirees, Anna loves to indulge her penchant for chocolate and always has a stash of her favourite Butlers dark chocolate ballotins – think 14 decadent dark chocolate treats – the perfect after-dinner indulgence which she carefully, mindfully rations. Anna thoroughly endorses that old adage from Eleanor Roosevelt – happiness is not a goal but the by-product of a life well lived.

Her favourite hashtag? #blessed.

Anna recommends: Butlers Chocolate Scented Candle Gift, €20: This online exclusive and limited edition candle is inspired by the wonderful aromas and fragrances of Butlers Chocolate Cafés and is a lovely fusion of zesty orange and creamy milk chocolate, with notes of green fig and soft cedar. With up to 40 hours burn time, this guarantees a very fragrant Christmas.

Butlers Chocolate Bar Library, €17.70: Anna is gifting these nifty collections of Butler’s most popular chocolate bars to all her friends. The Library is beautifully presented and tied up with a luxurious ribbon.

Butlers Pink Marc de Champagne Truffle Powder Puff, €10: Champagne and Christmas go hand and in hand, and nestled inside this pretty powderpuff keepsake box are pink dusted, white chocolates filled with a creamy, Marc de Champagne truffle centre.