Browsing CategoryChristmas

Christmas cards, a big fat goose, outdoor lights, crackers, Brussels sprouts, photo sessions with the family, dozens of cocktails parties – which of these (national, international or family) traditions really mean something to you and which are traditions you take part in purely for the sake of conforming to tradition? If a tradition means nothing but…

Last year our house was full of tradespeople and come Christmas our house wasn’t in a secure enough state for us to leave it unattended. So sadly we couldn’t journey down south to spend the festive period with family as planned.Our Christmas was spent on a building site and despite some SERIOUS reservations before hand…

In the past few months I have sat down with 5 separate families to talk about their relationships with Christmas and money. Their responses have been interesting, emotional, frank and I hope helpful to some of you. I’m sure you can appreciate my keeping their identities anonymous and assigning them different names for the purpose…

Here are a few more sweet ideas for gifts all coming in at very thrifty price points.Penguin Purse, £2 in store at PrimarkKnow someone who is a fan of the John Lewis penguin advert? This purse will be an absolute winner with them!Patterned iPad case,  in store at PoundlandGot a tech lover in your family?…

If you find yourself on Twitter during the month of December you'll see lots of tweets starting with 'It's not Christmas until...' rounded off with which film, advert or ritual kicks off the Christmas-y feeling deep inside that person. For me it's music, without hearing certain songs that deep sense of Christmas having arrived just…

One year I begged and begged and begged my mother to put the Christmas tree up really early, pretty much as soon as the page on the calendar was turned from November to December if you're asking. We had always been a steadfast put the tree up the weekend before Christmas or the day we…

Most people throw away a lot of what comes their way at Christmas. Stop and think, just for a second, as you reach for the bin - can you make use of the item you're throwing away?Here are a few Christmas-y things you can repurpose to ensure they have a full festive life. - Christmas…

I love these advent paper chains, I've been using them for years as a simple way to inject Christmas into your home slowly. Add one loop to the paperchain with each day of advent that passes. To start off it'll be small but by the time you start to feel festive it'll be a long…

As promised I bring you another Christmas preparation post. This time we have in hand the matter of gifts. I have three distinct gifting groups that I give to over the Christmas period - 1. Close friends are the group that I give homemade (knitted, crocheted, sewn, cooked),thrifted gifts or special gifts to (we usually…

If I’m honest, and this is quite sad, I probably enjoy planning and organising events more than the actual events themselves and Christmas is no different. List are made, budgets and spreadsheets tinkered with and recipes clipped from magazines. I find organising my life soothing and the smug sense of pride I get manages to…