5 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

And so it's the week before Christmas! Being on maternity leave feels like being in a tiny babyproof bubble and even though we have our Christmas tree up and I've made Christmas cake with my brother and mum, I'm definitely missing the festive cheer that comes with being in an office. Besides the Secret Santa gifts, Christmas parties and endless boxes of Quality Street, simply being around lots of people every day in December means conversation naturally turns to Christmas more often than not. I keep telling myself that I'm going to do something Christmassy to get me in the holiday spirit, and now with only a week to go I better get cracking! And hitting publish on this blog post will hopefully help me stick to it.

CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS

I love to hear the different ways that people celebrate Christmas. Families and friends around the world develop traditions in their own way, and my family is no different. I'm winding down the blog today for Christmas so I thought it would be fun to share some of the things we do and why we do them and I'd love to hear what you do over the festive season, so please do share in the comments!

Christmas Eve
Christmas actually starts for us on December 24th, which is when we have our traditional turkey dinner. It's a bit of a funny story, really! Until I was 14 years old, we lived abroad or far away from family, so we always spent Christmas day the four of us - my parents, my brother and me. We opened our stockings from Father Christmas at the crack of dawn, ate my mum's Christmas lunch and then when lunch and washing up was finally over, we could finally open our presents! Traditions become so ingrained and I've never been the most flexible person...so this was the way I knew and I knew I liked it. The first year we moved back to London, we spent Christmas Day at my uncle and his family's house. It was lovely, of course, but to me it was just too different - we had to rush through our presents in the morning to make it over to their house, and while my uncle's Christmas lunch is SO good, it wasn't the same as my mum's. So our second year in London we ate my mum's Christmas lunch at home, the four of us, and then in the evening we went to my uncle's and had his meal for dinner! Well...that didn't work so well either - 2 Christmas dinners in one day is kind of the best thing and the worst thing at the same time. And so we came to settle on the arrangement we have been doing for the past 10 years; we cook our Christmas meal and eat as a family of four on Christmas Eve.

Now that my brother and I are older, it's become a lovely tradition to cook with my mum and influence the recipes. My mum and I are quite partial to Jamie Oliver and have found his turkey recipe to be one of the best, as well as his crispy roast potatoes! There's also a ham simmered in coke, sausages, red cabbage, sprouts sautéed with bacon, roasted vegetables, bread sauce and gravy and it's heaven.

Christmas Morning
Father Christmas still visits my brother and me (though this might be the last year, as he's getting married in 2016!), but we're not usually up at the crack of dawn anymore! We open our stockings and then head downstairs - usually to steal some Christmas Eve leftovers from the fridge! The nice thing about having our Christmas meal the day before is that no one has to get up early to start peeling potatoes or sorting out the turkey, and we can enjoy our morning properly. We usually pop open a bottle of Champagne and then sit down together for smoked salmon, scrambled eggs (always this recipe), toast, marmalade and tea. Then it's on to presents! We like to draw out the giving of presents, a bit like a ceremony. We've never been ones to tear all the paper off and be done in 10 minutes and while it might be a bit dorky, we sit around the tree and give our presents out one-by-one. We usually give lots of little presents so it can go on for some hours! By the time we're finished, it's time for a cup of tea and a slice of Christmas cake.

Christmas Evening
In the evening we go to my uncle's house. It's funny how Christmas traditions can be so different from family to family; my uncle, aunt and cousins usually spend much of the day recovering from Christmas Eve spent at the pub and my uncle is often found back down in the pub for a bit of hair of the dog on Christmas morning. It must be his recipe for success though, as he cooks a beautiful Christmas dinner! And of course we follow all of the traditions, finishing with a Christmas pudding, doused with brandy, that never quite seems to set alight properly.

After Christmas
The days after Christmas are some of the best; all the expectations are over and we can relax, enjoy our new gifts and make the best leftovers sandwiches. Either on Boxing Day or the day after, our family friends came over and for the past 4 years I've been making Jamie Oliver's sweet leek and turkey pie (can you see a pattern forming here?) and his Christmas pudding bombe...without fail! Our two families have a longstanding competitive streak and this is when the board games finally come out and things can get a little rowdy!

Do you celebrate Christmas? What are your traditions and the reasons behind them?

As this is my last post before Christmas, I hope you all have a wonderful holiday! I have one post scheduled between Christmas and New Year - a round-up of my favourite posts of 2015, which is perfect for reading in your pjs with a plate of leftovers balanced on your belly - and then I'll be back in 2016! xx

FESTIVE FEELS

I'm such a natural homebody so December can be quite a shock to the system! Suddenly my diary is stacked up with night after night of plans - this year includes multiple Christmas work parties, dinners, drinks and even a hen-do! I'm planning a very very quiet January, but for now, here are some of the things that have been making me feel festive this year.

This year's Harrods Christmas windows are split horizontally in two, with these little mice vignettes appearing as a cross section 'under the floor' of the main window display. They are just at the eye level of small children and they are stuffed with mischievous mice and a charming collection of treasures; you could miss them if you were looking in a hurry, but there were so many children with their faces pressed up against the glass, which was just the sweetest thing.

Afternoon tea at The Palm Court for my friend's hen do - such a treat and a lovely way to catch up before we all wind down for the holidays.

Tea tasting with JING Tea started the festive season off with a lovely (calm!) evening of tea tasting. I've got some ideas up my sleeve for my brother's Chinese tea ceremony as part of his wedding in May.

Our Christmas tree; every year I say it's better and better, but I think this year's really is the best. Just the right proportions, featuring all my favourites from the Christmas Box. Happy Christmas lovely ones!

MISMATCHED CHRISTMAS GIFT WRAPPING

Of course it's what's inside that counts, but I always like to make a special effort with the wrapping paper too. I usually go down the brown paper route - especially when there's a stash of beautiful velvet ribbons at hand (Tiger is the best. You can't go wrong with £1 a roll!)

This year, I picked out a few rolls of coloured wrapping paper as well - again, from Tiger. Although there are three different types of paper, the gold brings everything together and I think that harlequin turquoise makes for such a great contrast. Hooray for non-Christmas Christmassy colours!

These hand-painted gift tags were just about all the crafting I could muster this year. It was actually really relaxing to get my paper and paints out and spend an evening designing different baubles and despite the minimal effort, I actually think they turned out rather sweet! At the last minute, I also did a few red toadstools inspired by my favourite vintage decorations - they go perfectly with the acorn paper!

Luckily I have a small family so Christmas wrapping doesn't take too long. I like to make an evening of it - I had a glass of mulled wine and Graham Norton on in the background while I wrapped up my presents. This might be a dorky thing to suggest, but wouldn't it be fun to have a wrapping party! You could pool resources with friends, put on some Christmas music and get wrapping. Or, the easiest alternative, just go somewhere where they do it for you - last year I blogged about Kiehl's who offer hands down the best gift wrapping service.

CHRISTMAS CRAFTING

I was on such a crafting kick this time last year, but this year I'm not so into it. I've done quite a lot of my Christmas shopping (don't hate me!), but I still love to include a few handmade items, so I thought I would do a little round-up of some craft ideas you might have missed if you haven't been reading my blog for very long - sorry about the repeat for anyone who's stuck around a while ;)

Last year I went on one of Quill London's calligraphy workshops with Imogen Owen and they kindly offered to create a free printable for 91 Magazine. This was one of my favourite features I put together for 91 Magazine because I loved the calligraphy class but it turns out I wasn't quite as talented as I thought I was going to be. Siobhan shot the lovely image above for the feature, which has templates to create a card and a gift tag.

I also got crafty with the printable myself, using the calligraphy motif to create little gift 'medals' and transform everyday paper bags into something a little bit more personal; the super-easy tutorial can be found here.

I actually created these little gift boxes for Valentine's day - and still have them piled up beside my bed because I couldn't bear to give them away! - and they would be perfect for gifting tiny treasures this Christmas too. Little children would love them (they could be gifts from Father Christmas' elves!) and they're perfect to wrapping up stocking fillers or little jewellery gifts.

And last but not least, clay ornaments. These are the easiest (not to mention cheapest!) DIY ever and result in a really thoughtful gift. I sent out plain brown paper Christmas cards with tiny personalised ornaments last year and they went down a treat. This year, I'm using the same tutorial to make larger discs as candle covers to stop my favourite candles getting dusty. On a side note, this DIY also informed my Christmas present from my parents; a new lens for my camera. Up until then, I had been using the kit lens it came with, but I borrowed my friend's lens to take these photos and knew I had to have one! It made a marked difference to my photos and has allowed me to take all of the food photos I'm not so proud of!

6 (RED) CHRISTMAS IDEAS TO STEAL

I read a lot of magazines, but Red is the only one I religiously save back issues of. In fact, I didn't realise it, but I've been reading it for about 4 years and it has slowly become my weekend morning ritual or my bedtime read when just one article is all I'm after. I know this is starting to sound like a bit of a gush-fest, but their Christmas issues are one of my favourite ways to get into the festive mood so I thought I would share 6 Christmas ideas to steal from the archives.

2013: Host A Mince Pie Night
I'm really bad at having friends over - I always feel like my flat isn't really set up for entertaining and there's too much washing up to do afterwards (a dishwasher for Christmas, please?). This year I still want to have friends over, but with less of the hassle, so I'm hosting a mince pie night! A few bowls of crisps, a plate of cheese and antipasti and lovely hot mince pies - I'm going the easy route with puff pastry and shop-bought mincemeat with little stars on top and a dusting of icing sugar.

2011: Fake A Wreath
I love the look of a wreath, but fresh ones can be expensive. I love this cluster of decorations - the big honeycomb bell adds texture and volume while silver faux foliage is a chic way to do tinsel - and think a few of these would look sweet dotted around the house. If we had a staircase, there would definitely be one of these hanging off the bottom of the banisters.

2011: Make A Ham
Okay, this isn't an idea per say but I am obsessed with ham and this marmalade-glazed one looks amazing. We have a friend moving in with us for a few months - when he lived with us before I introduced him to little cocktail sausages cooked in marmalade and mustard and he gave me a huge jar of marmalade, so now I know just what to do with it! Get a nice big one; everyone appreciates leftover ham.

2012: Christmas Doesn't Have To Be Red And Green
I loved this Italian-inspired spread from a few years ago. I love the cosiness of an English Christmas with open fires and lots of green foliage, but the image above shows that warmer climes can still be festive. You don't have to sacrifice your interiors style for traditional Christmas colours!

2014: You Can't Go Wrong With A Jamie Oliver Christmas
Jamie Oliver's team must test and test and test again all his recipes because they always seem to turn out just right. A few years ago, Jamie's Best Ever Christmas was on TV and that year my mum and I used his turkey method - butter and herbs under the skin - his crispy roast potato method and his sweet leek and turkey pie recipe and Christmas bombe for Boxing Day. I also use his turkey carving method and can vouch for it not just for Christmas turkey, but your average Sunday roast chicken too.

2015: No Room For A Tree?
If you have room for a trolley full of presents, you probably have room for a Christmas tree, but not everyone has one and I think this stack of presents looks very inviting indeed! My family like lots of little presents to open because we draw the whole process out, opening one each at a time and we can be at it for hours. This would also be a really cool idea for an advent calendar; I've seen lots of DIY advent calendar ideas pop up this year...imagine rummaging through this pile to find each day!

THE CHRISTMAS BOX

It's December! Christmas has been on my mind since October, but December 1st is the day I finally let myself get out my Christmas box. The Christmas box is where I hide away all my treasures, neatly packed up so they're easy to find and bring me joy every year when I get to unwrap everything and remember what's inside.

Ornaments
My family Christmas tree is a haphazard mix of ornaments collected from our childhood years; there are rusty metal ornaments, bizarre crafts and laminated drawings that go on the tree every year. To me, it makes the ritual of decorating the Christmas tree so much more magical to have ornaments that mean something, rather than a colour scheme of generic baubles and tinsel. For that reason, I've consciously collected a small but special array of (admittedly odd) Christmas decorations. When we first moved into our flat four years ago, our tree was a bit bare, but every year I treat myself to a few new decorations - the Paperchase caravan this year - and my mum usually picks up something weird for me from Petersham Nurseries. My other favourite places to buy decorations are Anthropologie and markets; the little glass mushrooms came from Sunbury Antiques Market.

Crafting
This year it seems like I haven't had enough time to think up any Christmas crafts, let alone get a start on making any. A few years ago I made pinecones rolled in glitter and last year I made clay ornaments; I'm glad I saved a few blank ones for any last-minute gifts this year.

Saved for Christmas
One of the things I'm fastidious about is making sure that I pack away everything Christmas-related before January 5th. Christmas pyjamas, tea towels and cushion covers go back in the box without fail, otherwise I know I would just end up using them throughout the year. Ditto candles; as well as making sure I only burn Christmas scents at the right time of year and my candles don't gather dust or get lost, they also make the whole box smell amazing, which is one of my favourite things when I open it up.

FINDING A PLACE FOR CHRISTMAS PRESENTS

The Christmas decorations have come down, the chocolate has all been eaten...seems like the holidays are well and truly over! I have the biggest problem with unpacking - whether I'm away for a night or a month, my bags tend to stay at the bottom of the bed for just a little longer than they should. A whole box of presents came back with me this Christmas, so I made it my pre-New Year resolution to avoid the clutter and make space for all my new acquisitions before the year was officially over. All in all, this year's gifts were of a practical nature so it was quite easy to slot them into place.

My mum gave me two gorgeous ceramics from a designer called Felicity Jones - they are made from the most beautifully delicate clay, imprinted with real flowers. The smaller one is an egg cup, while the larger is designed to hold a tea light, and the clay is so wafer-thin you just can see the flickering glow of the flame through it. 

From Father Christmas, a healthy balance of books about dogs, booze and chocolate (not pictured because it had already found a home...in my belly). 

I left my brother a not-so-subtle hint that I wanted a set of Falconware pie dishes - there's a great catering shop in Clapham North that sells them for their proper price, not the inflated figures you find in posh kitchen shops, so I was pleasantly surprised with an extra set of plates as well! They've already made a star appearance at our New Year's Eve party, when Darren served up his famous pulled pork with all the trimmings. 

My mum did all of her Christmas shopping at Petersham Nurseries this year, where she was so taken with these glass dog ornaments that everyone in the family got one!

And last, but probably most importantly, my boyfriend gave me a brand new diary to start the year off in suitably bright style (and a hot water bottle - life will never be the same again). I've yet to dig out the post-it note I started scrawling dates on back in the middle of December so I can start pencilling in plans for 2015 - next on my to-do list!

Oh and not forgetting the new camera lens, which I used to take these photos on a day that was much darker than these pictures would suggest! What were your favourite gifts this year? 

CHRISTMAS DIGEST 2014

Since it's Christmas Eve, I thought I would sign off for the year with my favourite blog posts of 2014. I've really tried hard to create interesting, original content that people want to read and (in the case of recipes and DIYs) do at home, so I'm feeling quite proud looking back through all of these posts.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

FOOD

• Entertaining for friends on a budget
• Easy meatballs for a quick, hearty weeknight supper
• Darren's epic pulled pork
• Hosting a surprise engagement party
• Restaurant-style scrambled eggs
• The importance of a pinch of salt

LIFE

• The best books I read in 2014
• Alternatives to the pill
• Tell someone you love them
• How to have a better commute
• Saying good bye to Por Por

INTERIORS

• Boutique style on a budget
• 3 steps to update an old sofa
• How to find affordable art
• Plaster walls

TRAVEL

• 6 days on the Gili Islands 
• A weekend in Cornwall
• 5 tips for the reluctant haggler
• Buying memorable souvenirs
• Saving travel memories 
• Discovering Angkor Wat

And if you're still not sick of it...CHRISTMAS

• Christmas gift wrap details
• DIY clay ornaments
• A Christmas shopping pit stop in London 
• Free Christmas calligraphy printable

I'm so grateful for the gorgeous, creative, supportive friends I've made through blogging and the sweet readers whose comments I love receiving. See you in 2015!