Have yourself a Merry little Christmas….

More snow, more good cheer, more shopping and more eating deliciously fattening foods!

I adore Christmas in all it’s guises from the family bickering and togetherness to the endless wrapping of gifts, decorating the tree – it’s all magical.

Unfortunately for some, it’s a reminder of how alone they are and for others – like the AIDS orphans of South Africa – it means very little indeed.  Usually over Christmas we help out at a local orphanage cooking meals and gathering donations but this Christmas we’re in England.   The first year I did this I was horrified to hear that these children are left pretty much alone in the orphanage for Christmas week with only two unqualified carers due to lack of funds.  I encouraged the local supermarkets and stores to donate food and toys for the children and took my two young sons with me to cook and play with those unfortunate enough not to have been placed over the festive season.  It was a heart breaking experience but well worth the effort.  After that we went back at Easter and every other Christmas too!

This year, being in England we’ve seen just how poorly supported South African orphans are in contrast to those here.  We can’t be there this year so instead, we’ve made a healthy contribution to the children’s charities in the hope that those who control them will use the money to ensure some children enjoy a happier Christmas.

I have to say though, that it doesn’t feel quite right.   This year of 2010 I have pledged that I will again be back cooking Christmas dinner for orphaned children somewhere in the world!

In the meantime, if anyone out there feels like pledging a donation to South African AIDS orphans please contact:

Dorothy Brosters Childrens Home, Nekkies, Knysna, South Africa.

The Christmas Spirit has landed here in Oxfordshire

Standing at the window watching the snowflakes drift down and hearing the shrieks of laughter from the children outside made me smile.

We’ve come a long way this year – all the way from Africa – and today it was easy to feel blessed.  My children are off to see their father and Grandparents in Switzerland this weekend and so, I’m cooking up a storm for a final family meal pre-Christmas and having the odd sip of a good red merlot in between.

I’ve shopped til I drop in preparation and now, with the stocking bursting, the fridge chock a block and the house looking like a fantasy world in silver, I can kick off my slippers and reminisce about the year past, the old friends and the new, and of course, the family.

It’s a strange feeling to know that this year we will celebrate alone – just us two – and yet it is also a peaceful feeling knowing that we have a whole ten days to ourselves again – how selfish is that?

Last Xmas Eve my father had a major heart attack and bypass surgery for 5 arteries.  It was a whirlwind of hospitals and drama with everyone trying really hard to be cheerful.  It was Christmas after all.  What followed that was a maelstrom of disasters for us all.

So forgive me this little tear of gratitude that has plopped into my wine glass – I’m blessed and I know it.

Google change the game again.

Google Caffeine is the name given to Google’s next generation search engine which it will use to rank and index all the pages on the web.  This is not just an update, apparently it’s a complete overhaul of the index algorithm which, roughly translated, means we will all have to comply with the strict criteria for successful ranking if we want our sites to stay alive.

Overall Page quality will now play a far greater role in how your page ranks.  Google are doing everything they can to ensure that they offer a quality product which means they need to keep the SERPS (Search Engine Results Pages) current, fast loading and relevant with very high quality content.

What does this mean to you?  On page factors will play a far bigger role.  Page design, navigation, title, meta tags, description, keyword density, alt tags, page views, bounce rate, traffic numbers, time spent on page, and the most important?  Quality Unique Content!

It is said that social bookmarks will now play an increased role in achieving high rankings as well as a perfectly optimised keyworded page, with the keywords in the title, description, meta tags, alt tags, and on the page will now be the only way to ensure that your site is ranked higher in Caffeine, as well as most search engines on the web.

No longer will large companies be able to buy their way into the top spot with Caffiene monitoring.  The ever growing importance of social bookmarks and links is becoming apparent and it’s speculated that Google’s use of these new social sites will make Caffiene faster, more relevant and more current as well as bring some democracy back into the index.