Christmas is here

Christmas season is here again - there's no way to deny that there are now only 50 sleeps left until Christmas. So have you started your shopping (or at least gift ideas) list?


I have this plan for an advent calendar with a little gift for each of the 25 days leading up to Christmas but yesterday I was reminded that I'd better get started because there's not many days left between now and the first of December!



I really do try to get organised about Christmas but my favourite part is trawling the shops to find gifts that suit each person. It's always lovely to see what the shops have come up with as their gift ideas. Sometimes I get lucky and I find something perfect for someone specific a lot earlier in the year which spreads the expenses load.


I also (with some difficulty) try my best to be "green" at Christmas. Last year I revamped old decorations rather than buying new ones. I also used no bought wrapping paper but made my own from blank newsprint I had collected or I re-used old paper. This year I am planning to try stitching together images from magazines that I've collected to make sheets of paper that are big enough to wrap the gifts. I've also got a plan in my mind to make my own little table gifts instead of buying Christmas crackers because even the posh ones in the shops don't have very exciting treasures. My most coveted tree decorations are glass angels and baubles but I find that so many of these are "Made in China" that I don't want to buy them. It's not that I have anything against China specifically but the sweatshop stories that I've heard are often from China. More on that subject another time. I recommend the book "No Logo" by Naomi Klein.