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Grocery sales over Christmas rose by 0.1% in the six weeks to 8 January, compared to the year before.

Even in December, the garden bears flowers: Helleborus niger — Christmas roses — with their blowzy blossoms in faded Victorian shades of lavender and sage.

The wild Christmas rose, Helleborus niger, is a fussy garden plant and is even unhappier when confined to a pot.

The death toll from a storm that struck the Philippines shortly after Christmas rose to 68 with the number of fatalities expected to climb even higher, civil defence officials said Monday.

But Hermione raised her wand, moved it in a circle through the air, and a wreath of Christmas roses blossomed before them.