But then Kara is following her, stepping in close and Lena can’t breathe, because Kara’s hands fall to her hips and all she can smell is Kara’s perfume and it wouldn’t take much to just lean forward and close the rest of the space between them. Mistletoe’s associations with fertility and vitality continued through the Middle Ages, and by the 18th century it had become widely incorporated into Christmas celebrations. Just how it made the jump from sacred herb to holiday decoration remains up for debate, but the kissing tradition appears to have first caught on among servants in England before spreading to the middle classes. Kara makes no move to step out of their embrace afterwards and so neither does Lena, she’s going to enjoy this as long as she can. If you need me, I’ll just be hanging around the mistletoe, hoping to be kissed,” Lena jokes as she walks away, earning a laugh from her friend.

That tradition might have originated more recently. It's mentioned in Christmas songs and poems in England by the 18th century.Kara lets out a breath, but her next intake of air turns into a gasp when Lena lifts her hand to cup Kara’s cheek. Well, would you look at that?” Kara says, glancing up to the ceiling and Lena realises they’re now standing right under the mistletoe. Kara’s eyes find hers again, all soft and warm with affection. She decides to leave her husband and the life that she no longer finds fulfilling, if she ever thought that at all and moves to Whitehaven, a large house on the top of the hill which reminded me of the house in the Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie. So whether it's at a holiday party or in a Christmas movie, there's a good chance you'll see some mistletoe this week. Just don't try to eat it.

Yuletide had always been Merlin’s favourite time of year. Celebrations in Ealdor were comparatively modest, but there was always enough warm mulled cider and cranberry-apple wassail to go around. Once the adults became too engaged with their own carousing, he and Will would appropriate a bottle or two of cider to share between themselves. The night usually ended with Will finding a village girl to snog under some mistletoe (when mistletoe could not be found, a sprig of parsley was used in its place). According to The Smithsonian, the romantic symbolization of the mistletoe comes from ancient Norse mythology, which is a body of myths of the North Germanic peoples. In the tale, Baldur, the grandson of a Norse god, woke up convinced that each and every plant and animal on earth wanted to kill him. Fearing for Baldur's life, his mother Frigg, the goddess of love, pleaded with all the plants and animals of the world to promise not to harm her son. Except, she forgot to secure her son's life with one living being -- the mistletoe. Stabbed by the god Loki with an arrow made from mistletoe, Baldur's fear became reality. I'm fine," she demurred. "I was merely overwhelmed by the excitement. But I wish to return to the feast." Eating the berries off a mistletoe plant seems to have fallen out of tradition in recent years, though, and perhaps rightfully so. Swallowing American mistletoe can cause an upset stomach. I found myself liking Louise and I was intrigued by the story of Laura Hastings whom Louise has bought the house from following her death. In Laura's diaries Louise finds comfort likening her life to that of the hollywood star but I always found she was more like Dominic, the love Laura wrote about longingly.

Thank you!

Lena glances above them. “If I recall correctly, you said you didn’t want our first kiss to be because of the mistletoe, so the way I see it, you still owe me a mistletoe kiss.” A whistle from across the room catches Lena’s attention and she drops her hand, looking past Kara to find they have an audience, Sam being the one who whistled. Sam gives them a thumbs up, earning another eye roll from Lena.

They made their way to the Great Hall, Arthur strutting with all the arrogance befitting his station, while Merlin walked dutifully behind his prince. If his gaze strayed to Arthur's arse, there was no one around to notice. The joke was on Arthur if he thought his wordless threats were intimidating. At most, they provided Merlin with wanking material.A brief inspection of the ceiling would be all that it took to avoid that, whereas being forced into a loveless marriage in a world without divorce or any semblance of women’s rights would have been rather harder to escape,” he tells TIME. Noting that it is extremely difficult to decode a phenomenon two centuries later, he adds, “I can say with some certainty, though, that accidentally finding yourself under the mistletoe would have been very, very far down the list of worries and disadvantages of a woman alive in the year 1800.” The event dragged on for Merlin. He stared wistfully at the platters of herb-crusted capon, roast goose, fennel and rosemary boar, preserved fruits, and spiced crab apples. He poured wassail and mulled cider into goblets and filched roasted nuts from the plates of inattentive nobles, all while trying to ignore the princesses fawning over Arthur. Uther's gloved hand tightened around his goblet. "You've held everyone up. If your manservant is so incompetent, find yourself a new one." Fantastic, Merlin though dryly. As if Arthur's head wasn't big enough. It didn't help that the firelight caught in Arthur's crystal crown, spilling prismatic rainbows down his handsome face. Why were the biggest prats always the most attractive? Merlin's mouth went dry. He debated stealing a gulp from Arthur's wine goblet. Arthur couldn't be saying what Merlin thought he was. Surely he hadn't meant...