secret santa swappy swap

I loooooove Secret Santa blog swaps - and I've signed up to take part in this one on Chronicles of a Sweet Tooth - why not pop over there and sign up too?

There are just a couple of days left to register!

November sunset #1

*yes, that is a moustache on top of our tree

on my Christmas tree this year

{glass cuckoo clock ornament from Selfridges}

{the most incredible unicorn ornament}

{hideously wonderful glass gnome from Paperchase}

{carousel from a German Christmas market}

{glass French Fancy ornament from my mummy}

{beautiful glass peacock from Selfridges}

{tiny glass owl ornament from Selfridges}

{owl bell from John Lewis}

{glittery golden key}

{velvety puffin from Iceland}

adorable printable garland

This is the cutest garland I have ever seen!

You should all print one - just in time for Christmas day as well, yippee!

gowns and spider webs for baby Jesus

When I visited Prague a few years ago, I went to the most amazing church ever ever ever - the church of Our Lady of Victory. You might not have heard of it by name, but you may have heard of what it contains: the Infant Jesus of Prague, a statue of baby Jesus that is believed to have healing powers and perform miracles.

In the museum above the church, which is reached via a spiral staircase at the side of the altar, are dozens of beautiful, intricately sewn gowns for the figure of baby Jesus, as well as photos of the statue in each of his different outfits. It is incredible.

{image source}

It's pretty much not linked at all to the point of this post but when I heard that pajakis were gifts of spider webs for the baby Jesus, the Infant and his wardrobe were, naturally, the first things I thought of.

I have loved the Infant of Prague ever since seeing him, and I'm pretty sure I'll love spider web chandeliers made especially for Jesus just as much! I first read about the chandeliers on Aunt Peaches' blog, and now I can't stop thinking about them...

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I just want to make them out of anything and everything I can find: straws, pipecleaners, feathers, beads, sequins, pom poms, lego wheels, dolly mixtures, felt scraps - anything!

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however, I can't decide what the baby Jesus would prefer --

awesome vestments or awesome paper spider web chandeliers?

must have Monday: neon Christmas

I've been giving it some thought, and I think a pink Christmas might just to be too tasteful and not quite awesome enough... perhaps I should go for a NEON CHRISTMAS?!

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let's see what pretties we can find to neon-up the holidays...

>>>ornaments<<<

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>>>garlands<<<

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>>>decorations<<<

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what do you think - too much?

must have Monday: Christmas jumpers

It's no secret that Christmas is my (2nd) favourite time of the year - only just beaten by Eurovision - but in all my Christmassy obsession, I have never once owned a Christmas jumper! I have never bought myself one, nor have I ever had one bought or knitted for me. I know, right - unbelievable! I'm not even sure if I would like one ironically or actually genuinely because Christmas is the most fun time ever.

I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be ironic.

I know most people think Christmas jumpers are uber naff, but I think they are simply charming! And if these awesome chaps can get away with it *cough* then so should we all be able to!

Poor Kanye wishes he could pull off an ironic Christmas jumper as well as Cee Lo and Snoop Dogg...

If you care to compete for the title of most ridiculous Christmas jumper ever, how about one of these a.m.a.z.i.n.g.l.y hideous jumpers? I especially like the beautiful Elvis one...

nutcracker >> 12 days of Christmas >> *light up* pink houses!

joy >> Elvis >> bears in stockings

baubles >> reindeer and snowmen >> more snowmen

If you don't like any of those (inconceivable!) then how about you make your own like Lindsay did?!

Finally, I should have guessed that these guys would have beaten me to it - don't they all suit their swanky Christmas attire? Love it!

{Mr Elk} {cat} {bear}

{polar bear} {armadillo} {sausage dog}

{fox} {cozy fox} {cat}

So, how do you feel about Christmas jumpers?

I hope it's a bit like this...

I'm dreaming of a pink Christmas

As I mentioned in the Christmas meme yesterday, my Christmas decorations last year were pretty sensible and restrained - it was woodland themed so there were lots of berries, owls and deer - all very twee and traditional.

But not this year, no way - I'm going with bright colours and over-the-top decorations galore!

Christmas Day this year will be spent with the wonderful Kaz, but as she has never hosted Christmas before she doesn't own any decorations! Not even a tree! Can you believe it???

I bought her a pink Christmas tree to make up for it, and now she has decided to go with a pink/purple/silver theme for the rest of her decorations. Working 14 hour days or whatever the crazy girl works, I offered to do her Christmas decoration shopping for her. I asked her what kinds of decorations she wanted on a scale of 1 - 10, with 1 being tack-o-rama and 10 being uber tasteful. She chose 6. The foolish girl doesn't seem to know how much I love tacky-things-shopping, and how uncontrollable I get when it comes to hideous decorations!

However, considering the specific brief and the small budget I was given, I think I did incredibly well - I went for mostly semi-tack with a bit of uber-tack and some semi-tasteful stuff - so it should all even out pretty well. That's how averaging works, right?

Let's just hope she doesn't expect any of this lovely stuff, 'cause she'll be in for a surprise if she does....

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What colour scheme are you going with this Christmas?

a Christmas meme

Now it's December I am officially allowed to talk about Christmas... wooooooooo!*
*Yeah, like that rule has ever stopped me

I read this Christmas meme a little while ago on Sara's blog, Sarbear's Journey, and just couldn't resist having a go at it myself...

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? 

Hot chocolate every time - I have some amazing hot chocolate flavours which always get cracked out at Christmas - praline, white chocolate, strawberry, orange and mint are my favourites, nyom! I don't think I have ever even had egg nog...

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? 

Yoyo and I wrap everything, but Santa brings gifts which are left in our stockings.

3. Coloured lights on tree/house or white?

White lights might be more grown up, but there's nothing better than masses of brightly coloured lights!

4. Do you hang mistletoe? 

I don't think I ever have - plus the berries are poisonous and I don't trust certain meowers...

5. When do you put your decorations up?

I have been known to put them up as early as the beginning of November, as a special treat for my birthday - but usually I wait until 1st December. When I was little we always put up our decorations and tree on my last day of school - but I just can't wait that long any more!

6. What is your favourite holiday dish? 

honey-roasted parsnips *drools*

7. Favourite Holiday memory as a child? 

I loved going to bed on Christmas Eve quietly singing Christmas carols to myself, and then waking up to a full stocking on Christmas morning - which always included a clementine, a bag of chocolate coins and a sugar mouse! Oh, and in the mornings we would always go to my granny's house after church - she had real candles on her tree (and still does) which is one of the most exciting things ever, I've never known anyone else with real candles on their tree!

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?

The truth about what????

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?

Sometimes if I'm feeling cheeky I'm allowed to, and when I was a kid I was allowed just one.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? 

I love having a real tree, but it's so wasteful when I don't have a garden to keep it in for the next year, so now I have a fake one named Sprout. I go through phases of being sensible and ridiculous, so sometimes it's absolute tack-o-rama in my house, and sometimes I try to keep it tasteful. Last year was nice and woodland themed, so this year I'm going with tacky and brightly coloured. 

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? 

Since we never really get enough to cause too much damage, I love it. Plus it means we sometimes have Snow Days and can't get into work - though we all still manage to get to the park down the round to make snow ducks and have snowball fights.

12. Can you ice skate? 

Yep!

13. Do you remember your favourite gift?

I like anything that has been made for me - it really shows when people have put effort into making things for you, and I love it!

14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you?

I love seeing all my extended family and the warmth and love I feel for the people around me. Oh, and carol services - I love love love Christmas carols.

15. What is your favourite Holiday Dessert? 

Well there are obviously mince pies and we normally have panettone as well - delish!

16. What is your favourite holiday tradition?

I like going to midnight mass, but it's not the same when it's not with my mummy, and as I am so rarely with my parents for actual Christmas, I don't really enjoy it any more. But Christmas morning is still my favourite bit - I love snuggling in my pyjamas with a hot cup of chocolate and opening all my stocking gifts, and then phoning my mum to tell her what I got!

17. What tops your tree?

Last year it was a toy orangutan from my friend Ruth, and the year before it was a penguin, so this year - who knows!

18. Which do you prefer - giving or receiving? 

I love seeing people's faces when they open gifts that I have given them, or made for them, but I get really embarrassed when I have to open stuff in front of other people - I would far rather just give gifts!

19. Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum?

I'm not too keen on the peppermint ones, though they always manage to find their way onto my tree somehow.

20. Favourite Christmas show? 

I don't really watch TV around Christmas - though there are some films that I have to watch around Christmas time - Bridget Jones's Diary, Aladdin, Bernard and the Genie, Love Actually, Elf and of course, Home Alone.

21. Saddest Christmas Song? 

Ummm, I'm not sure... maybe 'Lonely This Christmas' by Mud.

22. What is your favourite Christmas song?

'Last Christmas' by Wham! It's pretty much my favourite song anyway, let alone my favourite Christmas song, and 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' by Mariah. Awesome sauce.

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I flippin' love Christmas - I'm think I'll go and listen to some Christmas albums and wrap some gifts! Woop!

Let me know if you do this meme, I'm interested to see all your answers!

my annual expedition to the Swedish Christmas Fair

As the sun was setting over north London (16:06 - can you believe it?), I was sitting on a train journeying towards the Christmas Market at the Swedish Church in Marylebone. It was the first proper Christmassy thing I have done this year, and now I'm super excited about it all, and am increasingly tempted to 'Scandinavia-up' the festivities this year.

I was very well behaved - I only bought one box of pepperkaker biscuits, an advent candle and a pretty wooden robin ornament - but there were plenty of other tempting Swedish goodies: housewares, nyommy food and pretty textiles to name but a few!

Now I'm back at home with a snuggly kitten and a nice cup of tea, munching on pepperkaker, listening to Abba and thinking about Swedish gingerbread houses...

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If you're interested and free (short notice I know, sorry), the last day of the fair is tomorrow.

getting ahead of myself - a post about Christmas shopping

As you might have gathered if you have read this blog for a little while, I flippin' love Christmas. I started my Christmas shopping in April, and have been doing it bit by bit since then. By September I had managed to find a gift for everyone in my family and all of my closest friends.

In some ways it is a pretty neat idea to get it done so early:

*you can spread the cost throughtout the year instead of December being super tight
*if you're more organised you will panic less in the weeks leading up to Christmas
*if you enjoy it as much as I do then you'll spread the happiness throughout the year

I know there are some people who think that Christmas is over-commercial and just a way of making people fork out extra money for things that they think they need/want, and I guess I do agree with that to an extent, though I have never felt as though celebrating Christmas forces or pressures me to give gifts. I absolutely love giving the people I love little pressies, it fills me with warmth seeing people open a gift I have chosen especially for them.

{puzzle piece gift tag} {yarn gift wrap} {map-wrapped gift boxes}

{birds on yule logs} {woven rainbow ribbons} {snowflakes}

Most years I make gifts for people, and although I am still planning to do so this year I have also bought quite a lot of things. It's not like I have been shopping at the big stores who make millions over the festive period, I've been buying things from craft fairs, Etsy shops and straight from the artist - I'm pretty sure this is only a little further down from making a gift yourself, as it is still handmade by someone who genuinely loves what they do.

The problem with crafted and handmade products is just that there are so many of them that I know some of my favourite people would love, that I sometimes go a little overboard and buy too much. Us Brits don't like discussing money, but I'm pretty sure my "sensible" idea of spreading the cost of Christmas over a few months has backfired this year - I seem to have purchased waaay more gifts than I remember having done and my Christmas box is overflowing with goodies.

I guess some of them can be saved for 2012 birthdays or "just because" gifts, so in a way it has saved me effort in the long run. I just hope my backlog (futurelog?) of gifts won't continue growing, else I might have to find a new box in which to keep them all. Or maybe a cupboard?

What are your feelings towards Christmas shopping/gift giving?

Christmas in July

OK, so I know it's only July. And I know there are still 149 days to go until Christmas... but today I embarked on a splendid Christmas shopping expedition with my friend Claire.

image from blahblahbecky.co.uk

Selfridges opened their famous Christmas Shop this morning, and you know I can't resist a bit of it. We arrived in the early afternoon and there was almost no one there, but we couldn’t contain our excitement in the prospect of Christmassy goodness. The section was much smaller than it was last year, and they had decided to go with a white theme, rather than the traditional red, gold and green. There were still touches of colour, but it was largely white – a little ambitiously, I feel, since we only average a White Christmas in the UK every 6 years, and the last official one was only 2 years ago, but hey, we can dream!

image from blahblahbecky.co.uk

It was nice, if a little surreal, to wander among the trees adorned with glittering icicles, sparkling snowflakes, shining white baubles and (oddly) Siamese cat ornaments. After much perusing, we decided that although the displays were beautiful and ever so Narnia-esque, there wasn’t really anything that would “go” in either our houses – and it seemed a little foolish just to buy something for the sake of it. Feeling rather proud that we had resisted temptation (in the Christmas Shop of all places!), we treated ourselves to a cream tea at Dolly’s café. Nyom nyom nyom, say I.

Every year, the British media goes a bit mad with their reporting of Christmas shopping getting earlier every year, and it being too commercial and fake these days, not like in the olden days etc. and the British public, often in agreement, always have something to say about it too:

“The magic has gone, this is obviously capitalism at his worst” - says ‘Stealth’ from Manchester

“There should be a law to stop traders marketing Xmas before 1st Dec. Britain at it's worst yet again.” - says ‘Bandit’

“I used to enjoy Christmas but now it just seems to be an excuse for everybody that can to make money” - says 'Peter'

and my absolute favourite…

“How many of you realisticaly [sic] head to Harrods or Selfridges to do Christmas shopping anyway. Perhaps those that can afford to should be shot.” - thanks 'Richard'

Finally, a sensible woman with a sensible point:

"don't see what the moaners problem is... No-one is forcing anyone to buy it now if you don't want to. And why does it stop people enjoying the summer months?? What is wrong with people wanting to spread their xmas shopping out over several months instead of having to cram it all into December with the rest of the crowds??"

Well said, Pam.

comments from this article

How do you feel about early Christmas shopping? Have any of you started already?

Happy 0.5 Christmas!

There was a rule in my house when I was growing up that I wasn't allowed to talk about Christmas until after my birthday in November. But now I'm a 'grown-up', I can make the rules! And I say today, being 25th June, is half Christmas! Yayyyyy! I absolutely love Christmas, and there is nothing more awesome than celebrating a mini one half way through the year! As I know I am not the only one who feels this way (hello Claire!) I decided to celebrate it a little more formally than past years... however, having foolishly expected to be able to find "Christmassy-food" in the supermarket in June, I was thoroughly disappointed to find no mincemeat to make mince pies, no suitably Christmassy biscuits and no satsumas to put in the stockings! We made do with fancy choccy biccies though, so I suppose that's good enough! Plus Jamaica Ginger Cake and custard for good measure.

I woke up very early (as is expected on 'Christmas' morning), did a bit of tidying and then promptly fell asleep again, to wake again far later than I had meant to. Panic not, I still had plenty of time to tidy the house before our Christmas guest arrived.

Yoyo was very keen to help with the wrapping of gifts, and after having done the dishes, swept the floors, cleaned the kitchen and decorated the tree(s) we were done! Claire arrived brandishing a bag of gifties (woo!) and after exchanging and opening them all, we drank masses of tea, ate masses of biscuits and listened to Christmas songs and carols. As lunch was cooking, we partook in the usual Christmas tradition of watching a really awful film; it was te-rri-ble, and not even in a good way, but hey, it's tradition!

Lunch made everything better - roast potatoes, honey-roasted parsnips, broccoli, cauliflower cheese, brussel sprouts, Yorkshire puddings and gravy, nyom!

I flippin' love Christmas.

Anyone else celebrate Christmas in June, or is it just me? According to this article Jesus was born in June rather than December... so perhaps I'm not so odd after all!