Sorry! But I did see my first chocolate Santa in the shops today (hiding sheepishly behind the chocolate pumpkins!) and I remembered how all the advance preparation I did last year left me more time than I dreamed possible for playing with the children and indulging my taste for champagne cocktails on Christmas Day. In fact, my freezer and I will become extremely intimate in the next couple of weeks as I start to put together all the Christmas food my family expects to have and squirrel it away until needed.
One splendid timesaver I'll share with you is to prepare your roast potatoes whenever you get a spare half hour between now and the big day. No, I haven't completely lost the plot, even though Christmas preparations have been known to have that effect. Just peel them, cut them, parboil them, cool them down under running cold water, allow them to dry off then whack them in a bag in the freezer and forget about them. On the day, just tip them, separated but still frozen, into your hot cooking fat and stick in the oven for an hour or so. Perfect. Do the same with the parsnips too.
I digress. The point of all this is to urge you to take the same approach to your Christmas decorations.
Shop bought decorations can be just fine but......wouldn't it be fabulous if you could say "(the children and) I made them!" when visitors gasp in awe at your creations? Why decorate your place with the same Christmas decorations that everyone else has when with a little forward planning you can create something unique?
Making Christmas decorations doesn't have to be complicated or even madly time consuming - especially if you get cracking now and you have a guide to start you off. Once you have made, say, a glorious Christmas wreath you have the skills to experiment and design your own.
"Christmas Crafts" (see below for more details) is an eBook that takes you step-by-step through making a range of decorations from the wreath to candy canes, with comprehensive instructions and lists of materials needed. I discovered it last year and the children and I spent some happy - and sometimes highly comical - evenings as the nights drew in making boxes full of Christmas decorations. It became a real family affair and, in spite of the fact that we have more than enough now, I'm being pestered to get the materials ready again!
And I shall. We can always give the surplus away as gifts!
Check out what "Christmas Crafts" has to offer here!
Aphra has been writing academic articles, essays and papers for some time and now turns her hand to the Internet. 30+ in IT means plenty of expertise. As a mother, cook, cleaner, taxi-driver, counsellor and all the other roles that go with child-bearing she has her share of forcibly acquired wisdom too! Time to share! MYPF Free Web Hosting
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