Thursday, December 22, 2011

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas...



There are four things that make me feel really, truly Christmasy and turn me from knackered holiday grinch to femme festive.

The first is choosing the perfect Christmas tree and wrestling it into the car (which then also smells wonderful all month) spending an hour untangling the fairy lights then decorating the tree and sitting back to admire it, with a glass of bubbles and a box of Scorched Almonds.  

The second is making the trip to Franklin Road to wander in wonder at the twinkling villas. There is something about competitive fairy-lighting that makes my heart tingle.

Third, eating my first (then second, third and fourth) Christmas mince pie. Thank god these aren’t available all year around or I would be the size of a Franklin Road villa.

Last of all; the assembly and decoration of my gingerbread house. I adore the simple act of gluing walls and roof together with sugar cement, then going crazy with marshmallows, gummy sweets, candy canes and glitter. As my last ‘chore’ before Christmas, I can literally feel childhood returning to my bones with each wield of the piping bag.

What about you, Beaunz belles? What turns you into a femme festive?

x

3 comments:

Michelle said...

Hey, I loved your Christmas post and I nodded my head in agreement to every one of your four festive favorites. It made me think about my Christmas traditions and how they've drifted into hibernation since living in London.
When I was younger some of my traditions included decorating the tree (meant to be a family occasion but I would quietly cringe when someone else hung a decoration and ruined my creative vision), designing the centre-piece for the dinner table (with florist polystyrene and everything) and eating Ernest Adams Christmas pudding and custard until I burst. Since living in London my Christmas festivities somehow turned into an annual snowboarding trip. This is certainly a great way to spend Christmas considering it's in a picture perfect setting with plenty of snow, mulled wine and open wood fires BUT this Winter Christmas has a time limit for me and next Christmas I hope to be decorating a tree using family ornaments collected over decades (rather than decorations from the 99p store) and designing a center piece for a dinner table that will be visited across the holiday period by friends and family in the Southern Hemisphere!
I would also love some lessons from you in the construction (and consumption) of that amazing gingerbread house! :) Merry Xmas! X

Anonymous said...

Our Christmas traditions are all about food and wine and family. I can't wait to see everyone and spend the whole day yacking and eating and drinking togteher. Bring on Chrissie!

Erica Kent said...

Michelle - your Christmas trips to the snow sound gorgeous! You will cherish those memories in years to come. I'll post a gingerbread house how-to for next Christmas, I promise xx