little 'christmassy' thinga that you might just do all year?!

[workatemylife]

I am a self confessed Christmas enthusiast, and the beginning of January is always a bit of a uurrrgghhh time when all the festivities come to an end. This is the first day that it has all felt 'over'. I love Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (big kid inside never quite lost the magic) and enjoy a lot of the preparation and build up with DCs still at an age where nativity plays, carol services etc are part of the December diary. None of that would really work for the rest of the year! But some things might, and I've been thinking today about little Christmassy things and lessons that I want to carry on with in the coming weeks and months.

Baking and cooking with the DCs. We had a Christmas bake day after the school broke up for the holidays, and made a load of things to eat and share over Christmas. I would normally have been doing this myself in the week or so before, on the assumption that the DCs would find it dull, but not at all. We had a great day. So I'm going to carry on getting the family involved with food. DD wants to make dinner tonight!

Candles. I have candles in the loft that come out at Christmas, mainly matching our Christmas table decorations. It has been lovely to have candles burning in the house, and I'm going to keep on with this while the late afternoon and evenings are dark. Starting with a massive pillar candle from MIL, and anything left in the sales.

Family board games. Rubbish weather on a couple of days made us crack open some games that we've not played for ages. Not an every day activity perhaps, but I must remember that we have these things.

Meal planning. We were stuck in a rut in the autumn I think, with the same meals coming around each week and buying the same stuff out of habit. But I did a meal plan for the Christmas holidays and sat down and looked at some recipe books. We ate a lot of different things as a result. Obviously some things are best left for Christmas, but getting into the habit of not being in a habit as far as food goes would be good.

Bath night. I usually shower quickly in the morning, dress, and head to work. I liked having a couple of relaxing bubble baths in the last week or two, and this year I am going to use my Christmas smellies before we get to the next Christmas!

Flowers. We've had a small bunch of flowers in the hallway and they have brightened up the place and stopped DH dumping all his random papers on the table! Might try to keep this one going as well.

De-cluttering. Did this very quickly a week before Christmas so that relatives had space to sit and sleep. But it has been nice to have cupboards with space in them, and to be able to find stuff. I want to stop the accumulation of clutter, let go of homeware that is battered beyond use, stop hanging onto store cupboard ingredients that are fossilised, and DCs clothing that is too small or worn out, as well as my own. Last year I did that thing of turning hangers around in my wardrobe once I had worn something, and there was enough stuff that never got turned by the end of the year to fill a bag for the charity shop and put some items on Ebay in December. Mainly things of mine that didn't fit after weight gain and weight loss, and actually getting rid of them was satisfying (although I could do with some baggy trousers after eating a bit much this last week!)

Running. Maybe this is a new year resolution rather than a Christmas thing. I took the DCs to a fun run just before Christmas and was ashamed at how hard I found it. Time to dust off the trainers!

2017 looks busy now! Is there anything that you've been doing over Christmas that might carry on into the new year?

[CushionFiller]

OMG! Turning around the hangers so you know what has been worn - that might totally revolutionize my wardrobe sorting!

[wobblywonderwoman]

They sound great op

I always burn candles and but fresh Lilly's for myself. It makes a difference

I gave decluttered this holiday so going to continue and keep on top of it

We have had lots of little treats - visit to local castle for drinks over Christmas and I am going to organise something every month or so. Maybe on a Sunday evening.

I am booking a January and February panto

I have read a book and going to try and read one every month

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

Things I do all year-

Candles - yes, I love the 'foodie' scents like cinnamon, orange,vanilla. I burn these all year.
I do a Sunday Roast (DH and I are vegetarians but the DC eat chicken) except if its 80f outside so Christmas Dinner is a roast+ extra bits really.

I need to get back into buying flowers again - carnations and babys breath are lovely and last well (I love the clove smell)

[workatemylife]

Foodie scent candles are my favourite too. DD 'won' a bottle of cinnamon zoflora in a raffle (!!) and I've been using that liberally for the last two weeks. Mental note to look for fragranced candles, thank you!

Yes yes yes to nice trips out as well. We tend to go to the same places all the time, but had the GPs visiting for a few days and actually discovered some lovely things to do pretty much on the doorstep.

Glad I'm not the only one

[flapjackfairy]

I have to have a bit of christmas all year and still use christmas mugs on special occassions(special to me anyway ie its snowing,i am watching a nice drama and kids in bed etc)
I also only ever burn christmassy candles and stock up now in the sales to use all year long.
Also i have a snowy ornament that stays out all year along with christmas candle holders etc
I cant help it ! It makes me happy . Family think i am a bit mad but as usual i am toying with the idea of leaving tree up all year as hate to see it go . However i suppose i will bite the bullet and do it friday but honestly if people wouldnt think it strange it would stay put.
Does anyone else feel the same or am i indeed a bit wierd??

[Sadik]

Great thread - watching for tips. I'm a bit the opposite with decluttering - I think I overdo the minimalist tendencies esp as have young-ish cats. But actually the house looks so nice with the christmas decs, and cats haven't caused chaos at all, I think I'm going to find some more pictures & ornaments that I love.

[TeaBelle]

Plan things to do with dd (2) rather than just potter around with toys/too much TV. I enjoyed planning Christmas craft etc so want to do more year round

[MrsDilligaf]

Definitely agree with candles. I'd have half a dozen lit all evening if I could.

I remember watching "Holiday Inn" when I was little and thinking how lovely it would be to celebrate something every month. There was a thread in a similar vein a couple of weeks ago so I might adopt a few "occasions" to celebrate.

We have barely watched TV since mid December and I haven't missed it. We've recorded some stuff and we'll eventually get round to watching it but I am going to make an effort to cut down the amount of time we spend watching nonsense.

[workatemylife]

More great ideas. Thank you!

Yes to reading more books. DP watches rubbish on the TV in the evenings (well I think it is rubbish!) and I should absolutely sit down with a book rather than faffing around with pointless domestic tasks. Done.

And yes to less TV overall. DD has got into the habit of parking herself on the sofa. Once the tree is out of the lounge I will bring some of the DCs toys downstairs again and hide the remote control for the TV so that they are easy to play with.

Off to google 'Holiday Inn' now and that other thread MrsD

[73kittycat73]

I miss Christmas all year too. Have you heard of Christmas in July? It breaks things up a bit. I admit it's more of an American thing. But in the UK last year there were lots of bloggers that attended all the big store Christmas lines showing. There are usually lots of pictures and write ups on their particular store. I usually find the blogs here: www.christmasuk.org/
Also, have you heard of Rudolph Day? On the 25th of each month it gives you a Christmas themed task to do. Here's the link: christmas.organizedhome.com/rudolph-club
Hope that helps somewhat!

[Itmustbemyage]

Thanks 73kittycat73
Just checked out the Rudolph Club I'm totally going to join this year, will save a lot of last minute panicking I hope.

[MarmaladeTeepee]

Ooh some fantastic ideas.

I love my house with all the decorations up so I think I'm going to make more of an effort at other celebrations/seasons, eg Easter/Spring, Halloween/Autumn. I know a lot of American bloggers do this, so I'll check out pinterest for inspiration.

[Star2015]

Love this idea and your list workatemylife think I might try it for myself- thank you!

[SpringerS]

This is controversial but I've made Easter into a mini-Christmas. I start by decorating the house, not a fraction as much as I do at Christmas but the livingroom, kitchen and porch are all decorated. I made a brilliant Easter Countdown calendar for DS last year out of an egg box, where we count down the 12 days before it and do special crafts and/or activities each day. (It's similar to how we do our advent calendar but lower key and for half the amount of days.

Like during Christmas time, hot chocolate features prominently in our festivities. As does lots of baking, special breakfasts and table settings. I've researched all sorts of international traditions and have incorporated all the ones that sound the most fun like egg hunts, cascarones, easter baskets, etc. It's a fun time and really nice to look forward to in the second half of the winter. It's much lower key than Christmas, a lot more chilled out for me but still a really super time that I love so much now that I've given it some of the Christmas treatment.

[Flippingecktucker]

I love this thread! I'm reinstating Christmas tomorrow morning, thank you OP!

[73kittycat73]

That sounds really good, and like a lot of fun SpringerS.

[cookiefiend]

rudolf club- I love it! I know what you all mean about a bit of Christmas year round. We had a great time seeing lots of people so I am going to make an effort to plan more visiting.

Also we enjoyed seeing music performed in various ways- so will try and do that more too. What a lovely idea for a thread.

[ChippingInLovesChristmasLights]

What a lovely thread 😊

I love Christmas Lights, Christmas Wreath, Christmas Trees...basically all the pretty sparkly Christmas things!

This is a much smaller house than I had before & so there's far more Christmas Deco in the lounge now - my friends lovingly take the pee saying it's like Santa's Grotto . It's so strange for them because other than Christmas, I'm a minimalist.

I did fleetingly think that I really need to stop buying Christmas Decorations, but then I gave myself a good talking to! What I NEED is a bigger house again!

flapjackfairy. I love it all too and hate taking it down, but the way I look at it is, that if it stayed up all year I wouldn't appreciate it anywhere near as much after a little while.

I was looking on Ravely for knitting patterns for the Woolly Hugs blankets and saw some cute knitted Christmas Tree Decorations which I thought I'd do 'later in the year'. BUT thanks to your thread I've had a really good idea. I'm going to start on them now and do two sets (maybe more) one for me and one for my Mum. I'm going to make my mum's into an advent calendar & send it to her with a little deco, a little chocolate & a little note for each day. She'll love it (she lives overseas & misses me - god knows why 😂 She's lonely without my Dad now).

I'm also getting some plain white/pale pink fairy lights for my bedroom & to put in a bowl in the lounge - I don't give a flying reindeer if it's naff, I want some for the other gloomy winter months.

I've kept a pair of my Christmas Market mulled wine mugs out to use all winter too. Mulled wine is so much nicer from themt!

So thank you for starting such a great thread! 💐

[Mrsmadevans]

I love the sound of the cinnamon zoflora I am going to get some of that, I did get some mulled spice bleach fom Mr Ts though it didnt smell that christmassy .

[TooStressyForMyOwnGood]

Brilliant thread! Definitely like the idea of celebrating things all year round. My DC would love that too. Next thing is DD2's birthday so you have inspired me to try to enjoy the invitation writing and decorate a bit rather than viewing it as a chore.

I decorated a bit for Easter last year and loved that, thanks for the reminder Springer, might manage an Easter egg hunt this year

[dementedma]

We have candles all year round, and some fairy lights too!

[CoperCabana]

I love this.

I have one of those lit up twiggy trees with a bit of fake snow on (sounds hideous but is actually lovely) on a timer. It comes out in November and will stay out all winter. Makes me happy every day when I come home from work as the front room is all lit up.

I also do candles and I have some wintery cushion covers which are not strictly christmassy which stay out til the spring. I also have a couple of dead cheap fleecy throws with stags and stuff on which will probably hang around all year.

This year I put fairy lights round the mirror in the living room for xmas and they are definitely staying. I have also treated myself to a lovely Hygge book as I think that will give me more ideas.

[CoperCabana]

Oh and the kids got xmas mugs and xmas pjs which they will use all year.

[Chottie]

Now is snowing, it definitely feels Christmassy still :)

I want to hold onto that lovely, cosy, warm feeling in the house. I've been closing the curtains, switching on side lights, having a lovely bunch of flowers in the lounge and a flowering plant in the hall so it's welcoming.

I love some of the ideas on this thread...

[Oh2beatsea]

Great thread - thank you!