There's 18 days until Christmas, so let's get all the usual sayings out the way to begin with - 'I can't believe it's come round so quickly' and 'It'll all be over for another year in just a few weeks' These along with the myriad of other thoughts that no doubt the majority of us will have had this and every other year.
What am I doing on the countdown to Christmas I hear you (possibly) ask. Well working from home means that I'm no longer exposed to as much of the Christmas commercialisation that I used to be, this has pros and cons. The biggest pro being I don't get sucked into buying things I don't really need or decide to go crazy with my gift shopping. The downside is you also miss out on a little bit of festive cheer, the office Christmas tree getting put up, carols on repeat, a ridiculous amount of chocolates (although if I look at my waistline that's actual a pro).
The last two years I've countered some of these cons by putting my tree up earlier than I used to, making sure we start the mince pies and other seasonal baking early in the month. Which in part answers your question, I don't know how it is in your house, but in mine this is the season of food. I don't mean gluttony, I mean fancy cheeses on crackers, special family heirloom recipes, mince pies with your afternoon cup of tea and so on. I love to cook and I'll be doing a fair bit of that on the run up to the big day. There are only two of us this year and it might be tempting to not bother, but for me there is great joy in seasonal baking and I look forward to it, even if rolling the Yule log sponge gives me the fear.
It might sound dull, but we have gifting budgets, partly because it's easy to spend a fortune at this time of the year and partly (mostly) because may nearest and dearest have everything they want. Christmas gifting is about finding those carefully selected presents that will bring true joy. It's about hunting down the copy of the out of print book, or indulging in marron glace. Looking for the special things over the most expensive things.
In addition I'll be working hard writing book four of the Rowan McFarlane Mystery series and making grand plans for 2022. I'd love to know how you fill the weeks on the run up to the big day, drop me a comment and let me know.
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