It's Beginning To Feel A Lot Like Christmas!

It's not even December yet but I'm well and truly in Christmas mode! This year Munch will be completely aware of what's going on and I'm embracing my inner child 100%! I decided that I would try and get basic decorations from cheaper shops and adapt them to my theme. I have been building on the shabby skandi style for a couple of years now and I'm a bit obsessed with Christmas decorations, so the collection is now quite substantial! Over the last few years we have moved around quite a bit so our Christmas trees have varied in size. This year space is a little tight, so out goes the six foot beast containing three sets of lights and in comes a slimline pencil tree and one string of vintage styled LED lights. I'm hoping this will last the season as Munch has a fixation with lights and climbing so it will be closely guarded! I love having presents under a tree, I think it finishes it off nicely and there is nothing better than giving each gift a prod and a poke to see if you can guess what the paper is hiding. Last year we were lacking in actual presents for the tree so I wrapped some empty boxes and tied them with elaborate bows to make them look as real as possible. I also added a few Christmas soft toys and some larger decorations to fill in the gaps. By the time I'd finished it looked like something out of Santa's workshop! I once read in a style magazine that you should push bigger baubles right into the branches and towards the trunk of the tree to give it depth and to draw the eye in, no chance of that this year but it's definitely true. I don't like tinsel on my tree, but I do use strings of beads and sometimes a garland, but mostly it has hanging ornaments both modern and vintage, which sit together perfectly. Another thing that makes Christmas for me is the food. When I was growing up my mum used to go overboard with the sweets, the nuts and the trimmings. There are certain foods that remind me of this time of year and now I have a house of my own I have carried on this tradition and continue to buy things like marzipan fruits, lemon & rose Turkish delight and fruit jellies. For the savoury lovers I like to have a bowl of mixed nuts, like hazelnuts, walnuts and brazil nuts with the traditional nut cracker and also a selection of 'posh' cheeses and cheese biscuits to enjoy of an evening with pickled onions. I'm not a huge fan of roast dinners, so Christmas dinner for me has never held any special fondness but our family boxing day traditions is my favourite meal of the season and it reminds me of sitting round my Nan's kitchen table as a child. We always have cold meats like turkey, gammon and boiled ham with mashed potato, pickles and chutney. It's served up like a giant all you can eat buffet and I will eat until I'm unable to move! In my family alcohol wasn't really a main feature at Christmas but we would always have bucks fizz on christmas morning, white wine with dinner (which I can't stand!) and there would always be babycham and ready mixed snowballs. Nothing provokes childhood memories like Christmas time and I'm fascinated listening to what makes Christmas special for different people. For me it's all about family and friends coming together to have a god time. I'm not religious so for me it's all about keeping up my family traditions and I will be teaching Munch exactly the same way my mum and dad taught me. Be grateful, always thank people and don't ever ask to watch the queens speech :-)