Counting down to Christmas
With the all-famous Christmas advert being released last week and other retailers fast behind them, it is official – Christmas is on its way. For me, the festive season begins once I’ve taken my first sip of mulled wine. The smell of heated orange mixed with warm spices is so provocative, I think it would make me feel Christmassy even if I caught a whiff in mid-August! I spent this chilly, November weekend just gone, perusing the food market at London South-bank. Following my nose, I found a young man nursing a cauldron-like pan of warm, delicately spiced wine, decanting it into paper cups and we took a pit stop to stand by the river, a cup of mulled wine in each of our gloved hands.
I returned home feeling very excited for the season’s festivities – Christmas tree decorating, present wrapping, Christmas cake feeding…What better way to satisfy my craving for Christmas creativity in November than to make an advent calendar? Flicking through the “Plan the Perfect Christmas” insertion that I received with my Country Living magazine earlier this week, I found this simple but gorgeous advent calendar design. I found some nice bits of paper (mostly used bits of last year’s Christmas wrapping that was too nice to throw away) some little wooden pegs (I got a whole bag for 99p on amazon), some ribbon to hang your triangular envelopes from and some sticky labels to label up the dates. I altered the design a little and instead of securing the envelopes shut with a label, I used Velcro strips so that it can be used again and again.
This week, I arrived home from work and spent my evenings folding a few triangles each day – it’s very therapeutic! Yesterday I reached 25 triangles so strung each one up carefully on some nicely coloured raffia and filled each one with a chocolate. I placed it in a shoebox and gave it to my sister who has recently moved into a new home.
She loved it. And tonight, I’m starting advent calendar number two – after the rest of my family clapped eyes on it, these homemade advent calendars are in high demand. So, the folding continues…