Christmas Most of the Year Round!

The only holiday I really go all out on is Christmas. I may have mentioned this once or twice! I absolutely love everything about it and I can’t get enough of films, music and books about the season.

My Christmas planning will start around July most years as I start looking for possible presents. Finding that gift that even the recipient didn’t know they needed is one of the absolute joys of the season. I talk to people through the year and get inspiration from their, occasionally, throwaway comments and think, ‘That’s what I will get them!’ By the end of the summer I usually have three or four presents and this year is no exception.

For a number of years, in three of my previous posts, I organised a Secret Santa for my colleagues. It wasn’t on my radar until September, but I would start to get ideas for how to change things up if needed and I would chat to colleagues to see if any ideas could just add to the festive feel of my favourite event at work. I also did a yearly talk for my students about Christmas in the UK which was a bit hit and miss, but when it worked well it was amazing. To be honest I just loved the research and finding new facts and anecdotes that would liven it up.

When my children were younger the preparations were full on, especially as we didn’t have a huge amount of money. I had to work out how to make it as good as possible for as little money as possible, and that meant finding things in the Christmas clear out sales in January and putting them away. It was always a great distraction from some of the harder aspects of relative poverty. My favourite Christmas present for the children was a competition win of a new XBox which replaced our old PS2. Some of my oldest son’s friends were mocking the primitive technology in my earshot and I got really irritated as it had been a stretch for us to afford even that. When they came round to see the new XBox I wasted no time in giving it back to them, asking them if they had one! Very unfestive, yes, very petty, yes, but very satisfying!

I start planning the food I am going to cook around now and I buy my Christmas food as early as possible. This year, my high level cucumber relish production will be scaled back but I know I will still feel festive when I prepare it.

I have already started preparing my ideas for Blogmas and I will unveil the main element of my December blogging in the next few weeks.

So, there you have it. Christmas is a year round, fully planned festival for me and I still love it.