of the largest American newspapers this week.

Sunday's Travel section of The New York Times carried a report by Mrs. Sarah Ferrell of her Christmas trip to Bermuda last year.

Bermuda, her story announced, "does the holiday to a T.'' Mrs. Ferrell, an associate editor of The Sophisticated Traveller, and her husband were looking to escape the winter weather in search of "palm trees and flowers''. Bermuda, they decided, was the perfect place.

They arrived here on Christmas Eve and checked into Waterloo House where they found "an enormous chintz-filled room with a little present of fruit and chocolates, with a private porch looking out into a walled garden with blooming red hibiscus and a palm tree.'' Despite a grey Christmas morning, Mrs. Ferrell and her husband attended the traditional Christmas service at the Cathedral, joining the Governor and other dignitaries.

They returned to Waterloo House just around noon to an eggnog party and a visit from Santa Claus who handed out gifts -- a pretty pearl ornament for her and a Horton's rum cake for him.

The highlight of the day, noted the writer, was the Christmas feast.

The menu ran to seven courses and featured the traditional turkey and stuffing with a generous "chunk'' of "that most Bermudian of dishes'', cassava pie.

"We went on overload with the plum pudding, cheese tray, and mince pies,'' she wrote, "and could barely make it to the sitting room for coffee and liqueurs.'' The next day they awoke to the sound of wild drumming. They followed the sound to Front Street where they saw Gombeys parading and dancing.

In the days that followed, the couple spent their time "touring the island in the morning, afternoons sitting on our porch, drinking rum swizzles and listening to the wind in our palm tree. Evenings, after dinner, we walked into Hamilton to ooh and aah at the decorations.'' The best view, Mrs. Ferrell said, was from a ferry in the harbour as night fell.

They returned to New York just before New Year's Day. "Stomping through slush, I experienced an old childish discontent: `Oh rats,' I thought, `it's not going to be Christmas again for another whole year.' '' SIMPLY ANGELIC -- Three-year-old Chantia Wolffe played the part of an angel when she appeared in the Woodlands Playhouse Nursery Christmas production held at the BAA clubhouse this week.