Every Thursday I’m going to be sharing with you all of my Christmas preparation, the books I’m reading, the films I’ve watched, gift ideas I’ve found, and the festive events I’ve attended. Because, well, I LOVE CHRISTMAS SO HARD.
Before I start, Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends & visitors! :)
This week, the festive season really kicked off for me. My mom came to visit at the weekend and we just couldn’t NOT spend the whole weekend doing Christmassy things. I also completed stage one of my Christmas Hampers and enjoyed a Christmas film or three.
1. The Ideal Christmas Home Show: Thanks to a friend I managed to get two free tickets to the exhibition show at Earl’s Court. In theory it was beautiful and festive, full of Christmas gifts & decoration ideas and freebies. In practice, it was beautiful and festive, but it was also so rammed so you could hardly move through the stalls, never mind get your hands on the freebies. We still managed to have fun though. We hugged a snowman and drank many a mulled wine, so no real complaints here!
2. Southbank Christmas Market, London: My mom had never been to the Southbank so after I picked her up from Euston we had a wander along the Thames sampling the delights of the Christmas market they have there every year. They’ve changed it quite a lot this year, incorporating a huge cider lodge, a Christmas train (which looked quite pathetic to be honest), and also a Christmas tree maze which I was excited about, but it didn’t look worth £4! We tried some amazing toffee vodka, and enjoyed a steaming cup of mulled wine with brandy. Welcome to Christmas.
3. Decorating: You may think it’s too early, but it’s not! ;) I have great childhood memories of decorating the Christmas tree with my mom. Since I moved to London I always miss that part of Christmas, as by the time I get back home, the tree and everything is already up. So on Saturday we decided to do some shopping and decorate my flat. It’s still not finished, but the tree is looking great. Thanks to Mumsy! :)
4. Too Many Festive Books?
While I was compiling my Top Ten Winter Reads for this year, I realised just how many festive books I’m planning on reading. And the list keeps growing thanks to you fellow bloggers! How many is too many??
5. Christmas Hampers: This year I’m buying very few presents, and instead have decided to give homemade hampers to family and friends. I thought about doing it last year too, but never got round to it and seeing as I got made redundant last month it makes sense to do it this year. But it’s not just about not having the money, I think spending time making something is a much nicer gift than anything I could buy. I just hope I can pull it off. The first stage was to pickle some onions, which I am now storing in a dark vault, to pickle away ready for Christmas. Find out what stage two consists of next week!
How are your Christmas preparations going? Let me know!
Also, I’m not sharing these posts on FB as I don’t want my family to see what I’m putting in my Christmas Hampers, I’m hoping they don’t check my blog that often (if at all)…if you do, LOOK AWAY ON THURSDAYS!!!