Christmas is coming towards us at the speed of a freight train it seems. As I've gotten older, I find it harder to get into the Christmas spirit. I'm not sure why, I guess a little bit of the magic goes and it is such a high stress time in my business. Usually the never ending list of Christmas markets I do leave me feeling at least a little bit on the Christmassy side. Or strolling around in the evening seeing the Christmas decorations and lights lit up. There are a few other things I've been doing to try feel more festive. I thought I'd share Three Things I'm Doing to Get Into the Christmas Spirit.
Festive drinks.
Hot chocolate galore, spiced teas, festive lattes. I've even tried a couple Christmas themed fizzy drinks - I was hoping it would taste like Christmas in a bottle but it turns out really sugary fizzy drinks are not really for me. I always used to make it a rule that the first Christmas market I do of the season, I'm allowed to have a festive latte. I usually drink black coffee, so this is a real indulgence. Like having a pudding. Gingerbread lattes, eggnog lattes, I love them all. Their sickly syrupy sweet seasonal hits of flavour make me feel like Christmas is coming. When all else fails, a chai hot chocolate (I literally just add garam masala spice mix to my hot chocolate) or black chai tea does the trick. You'll notice I've not added booze on this list. I pretty much stopped drinking almost 2 years ago. I do have the odd drink here and there, in fact, I'll be having a glass of fizz to celebrate over the next few weeks, but I'm not much of a drinker these days. I'm a sucker for a good soft drink and I definitely don't miss hangovers.
Shopping with some brilliant indie businesses.
Each Christmas my goal is to buy all my gifts from independent businesses. I've discovered some brilliant ones this year. I've managed to tick off everyone on my list and I've supported small businesses the whole way through. Whether I found them through the Just A Card Campaign or trawling through instagram, there are some brilliant indies out there. It's so exciting shopping with small businesses. I know that the sale means more to them than it would a big company. I also know that I run a much smaller risk of there being duplicates under the tree and the stuff I have found is SOOOO cute the recipients are going to be over the moon.
Planning the festive period.
I'll be spending some time over the Christmas period with my brother and niece this year. I've bought my niece and I a set of matching pajamas for a festive film night in, I'm making and decorating sugar cookies with her, we've started a list of Christmas films we will watch, and plans are well underway. It's exciting. I've also been reading a lot about festive traditions around the world. My favourite being Jolabokaflod, the Icelandic tradition of exchanging books and chocolate on Christmas Eve and spending the evening reading and eating chocolate. Now THAT is a Christmas Eve I can get behind.
What do you do to feel festive? What are you planning for the Christmas period? Tell me tell me!
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