I absolutely love Christmas – I always have. And I think that’s because I’ve always had wonderfully relaxing, cosy winter days curled up in my Mum and Dad’s house with my close family around me just spending some time together. Sure, there has been the odd scrap and argument, but Christmas is just such a magical time it takes a lot to overshadow it.
With it now being two weeks today until the big day, I thought I’d share the top five things I love the most about Christmas to help get you in the festive spirit!
1. Spending time with family and friends
The Christmas season as a whole is the perfect excuse to get together with family and friends and share a drink (or two) and a mince pie (or three). There is always loads going on in December and nothing makes me happier than getting to spend time with those close to me.
On Christmas Day itself, we keep it small and only have our close family around and I love that. It’s the one time of the year when we’re all in the same place at the same time and there is no pressure to do anything other than cook a huge meal and eat as much chocolate as we can physically muster.
My memories of Christmas Day involve relaxing on a squishy sofa, surrounded by great drinks, delicious food, happy family and it makes me feel cosy and warm. We might venture out for a walk if the weather’s up to it and we always end up doing a jigsaw. It leaves me feeling really grounded before the end of the year and nothing beats it!
2. Putting up the tree
Christmas trees are a thing of joy – Andrew and I only have an artificial one but I know that as soon as we reach the stage where we spend Christmas Day at ours that we will get a real one. The entire experience is fun – Dad selecting one, laughing as it comes out of the bag all wonky and uneven, trying to get it to stand up straight, covering it in lights (coloured AND white in case you’re wondering), dressing it in baubles, festooning it with tinsel and finally dousing it in lametta. Oh and don’t forget the angels for the top.
The baubles at Mum and Dad’s are a mix of old ones that used to belong to Nana and Grandad and some new ones that have been picked up over the years. The baubles on our tree are picked up from all over the world – everywhere we go we try and get a bauble, even if it’s summer! We currently have ones from New York, Iceland, Lake Districts, Budapest, Houston and of course Newcastle. Looking forward to building up the collection more!
3. Christmas jumpers
As Andrew will surely testify, I spend an inordinate amount of time looking at Christmas jumpers online – trying to find the *perfect* one. Now I have come to the conclusion that there is no perfect ONE but there might be about a perfect five. See I need (yes, need) one that is Christmassy but could be worn throughout winter (e.g. a white fair isle or something similar), one that is sparkly and has stars because STARS, one that is all out loud and shouting ‘I’m a Christmas jumper’ with some sort of 3D additions and two others for while all of the above are in the wash.
4. Eating some quite frankly sensational food
Christmas is all about the food – turkey, duck, ham, roast potatoes, sausage meat stuffing (Grandad’s special), pigs in blankets and SPROUTS! Christmas dinner is perfection on a plate. Throw in some smoked salmon starter, follow it up with Christmas pudding, brandy sauce and Christmas cake for pudding and I am happy as Larry. A very chubby Larry, but Larry nonetheless. I always feel more like baking at Christmas, so this year I’m planning to make some Christmas biscuits to take home and share with the family. Got my eye on some Christmas pudding numbers. Stay tuned to see how (un)successful I am!
5. Preeeeesssseeeennnntttttsssssss
Call me shallow, but it wouldn’t be Christmas without a few pressies knocking around! I like to eke out the present opening for as long as possible – carefully peeling back sellotape and folding paper to make the deliciousness last for ever.
But I also love giving presents – writing clues on tags so people can try and guess what they are getting and making other people smile makes the expense of Christmas presents so worth it. Happiness is found in giving as well as receiving people!
So those are my favourite things about Christmas – what are yours? Share below and get the festive feeling spreading!
♥ JH
[…] Who doesn’t love Christmas?! I do (check out my post about what my favourite things are here) and I am happy to say that my decorations are only coming down today – the twelve days of […]