Special Treats

My 10 Christmas Treats

1. Gingerbread Lattes
2. Mince Pies with Cheese
3. Christmas Candles (especially Sparkling Cinnamon)
4. New Pyjamas
5. Boxing Day Sandwiches (with lots of salt, mayo and crispy lettuce)
6. Playing Board Games (every year me, my mum, my brother and anybody else who fancied it used to have a running game of poker all Christmas Day)
7. Bucks Fizz with Lox and Bagels for Christmas Morning Breakfast
8. Christmas Bedding and Linen (all as cheap as chips but I love my reindeer pillows)
9. Merry Christmas...from complete strangers
10. All the wonderful Christmas Music (I restrain myself until December and then it is all Phil Spector all the time in our house!)

Oh Christmas Tree

I have been sorting Mum's photos for her for her Christmas present so I have been looking at photos of Christmas past for a few weeks. I have such vivid memories of our family tree. At our first house Dad went and cut down branches from the pine tree in the garden and we decorated those. There were big multicoloured bulbs that intertwined with angels choirs and disney characters. Always with a Barbie to top it off. 
Some of those decorations live on with my Dad. He has collected decorations from all round the world and whenever we go on holiday we buy one for him. They come from Brazil, all over the states, the far east and from European markets. All in the worst possible taste. The Boston Baked Beans in a Christmas Stocking is still my favourite. 

Sensory Overload

I think because my focus is on food so much at Christmas I forget my other senses. The smells of the Christmas markets at work, the burning in my fingers when you come in from the cold, the Christmas songs. Oh the Christmas songs...the way they lift my spirits is amazing. The ability of a song to change the mood is transformative. But even I must admit to being tired of Slade and Wizard by January. 
I am burning my Christmas Yankee candles again. At the moment it is Pine and Apple to celebrate the putting up of the tree (which WILL happen this week) and next I cannot wait to burn something good and spicy. 

Journal Your Christmas 2013

I have been receiving prompts for Journal Your Christmas from Shimelle since 2009. It is a fanatstic project to take back Christmas from the stress and commercialism which has become part and parcel (pardon the pun)of the season. It is such fun to get a little message in your inbox everyday of December and the forums are a great source of inspiration. Lots of people do beautiful scrap book pages but that defeats me at this time of year.

I am trying to focus of my not letting my perfectionism stop me doing things so I am simply aiming on doing a blog post each day and I am jumping in today on the 6th prompt.

I think Christmas Cozy is under a blanket, with the big light off and the tree lights on, watching a movie with a drink (preferabley fizz) with snacks to hand. It doesn't even have to be a Christmas film. It is just having the 2 hours to sit down and watch a film. I have spent today making bread sauce, cranberry sauce, apple sauce and red cabbage while watching Season 8 of Dexter. Having this leisurely time at this time of year is a secret pleasure. Getting these things done early allows Christmas to be Cozy and a little less stressful. I am really not stressed this year as I have done Christmas with Mum already and Dad etc are all being seen in February. Just friends and the Boy to shop for and that is all fun! 

Crochet Camp

I am taking part in Crochet Camp! Not quiet the same as getting away into nature but about the same amount of fun. 

http://slugsontherefrigerator.com/

There is loads of info suitable for beginners and also tips for those of us that have been doing it for a little while. Also some mega cute patterns including a fab potholder I made last week. It is completely imperfect but I take great pleasure that I made it!

New Year's Resolutions

1. To exercise 3 times a week.
2. To finish watching Mad Men

Not too hard there. I have been keeping up with the exercise since the new year started but no progress made on the Mad Men. I belong to a gym which is literally at the end of my road, about 3 mins walk away. The gym also has a pool so I have been using those liberally. I also have rediscovered Dance Central on the Kinect. It is amazing how sweaty you can get just jumping around in your living room. 

My newest exercise motivator is the NHS Coach to 5k podcast. They have a very calming woman telling you to walk and run in 60 and 90 second intervals (well the first week does anyway) and the music could be much more annoying. 

The Day to Day

I have just finished reading The Happiness Project . It is a brilliant book about how to make your life happier without changing your life. It focuses each month on making resolutions to do with one area of life such as Work or Family. It is a really personal account from one women who is definitively not perfect and lives her real life as she goes through the book. It is really inspiring as she is not unhappy and is just working towards making herself happier on a daily basis. My desktop background is a quote from her "What you do EVERY DAY matters more than what you do ONCE IN A WHILE'. This really appeals to me as I feel what makes me happy and makes a big improvement of my quality of life is what I do everyday, the small things like the food I eat and the people I talk to regularly. It isn't the big things like holidays or moving house. It is the small things like stroking the cat or having a great cup of coffee. 

I would really recommend the book to anyone. She is an intelligent, well read, fun woman talking simply about her life. I am just starting on her next book about being happy at home. We will see if it is as good.