My day in cups of tea
We asked Santa’s helper Emily Beckloff, of International Elf Service, what makes a good cuppa – and how she keeps the Christmas magic going all year round
Rise and shine! How do you approach your morning? I always wake up with the most enormous ‘to do’ list. Having three school-aged children, I need to be highly organised! I usually have my first cuppa as soon as I’m downstairs, making it with one hand, while feeding our cats and making a packed lunch with the other. Once I’m on top of things, I put my creative hat on.
Dare we say that it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas?
It’s Christmas all year-round at International Elf Service! I start writing the new Christmas letters each year from January to March, as well as making birthday, fairy and tooth fairy letters all year round. Christmas orders start from around June, ramping up to dizzying heights for our Christmas letters advent calendar – it needs to make it into homes in time for the first letter to arrive on 1 December.
So, you’re quite busy about now, then?
I’m SO busy, I rarely have time for lunch and I work every evening, often until 1am.
You need a cuppa! Can we get you something?
Oooh, lovely! An Earl Grey or a strong white builder’s please, or a Teapigs Spiced Winter Red tea.
Who are your favourite tea-drinking companions?
My dear friends Lindsey and Jessamy. They helped me so much with my business in the early days, as well as supporting me through breast cancer in 2016.
What’s your favourite Christmas tradition?
I love to sneak upstairs on Christmas Eve, while everyone’s eating, and light candles in our bathroom. After an early candlelit bath, our children each open a parcel containing a book, pyjamas and cosy socks. Then we snuggle up in front of the fire with a hot chocolate and watch a Christmas movie.