So here we are, it is finally December! (or maybe for some a case of: 'December already' you decide!) The hubby and I had a lovely Christmassy long weekend to get us in the festive mood AND we managed to get all of our Chistmas shopping completed in one day which must be some kind of record for us as we are usually very unorganised. Now we can enjoy the countdown to Christmas with no panic attacks or last minute shopping trips - yippeee!

 

Call me sad if you want to but I just love Christmas and I always have. It is one of my happiest memories from being a child and the enjoyment and excitement of the Christmas holidays has followed me into adulthood! I actually enjoy the build up more than anything. All the decorations and twinkly lights with the Christmas songs playing endlessly in shops and on the radio (much to the annoyance of many but I love them!). Christmas feels like like such a happy time of year; people finish work for a week or so, eat and drink far too much and swap presents with loved ones. What's not to enjoy?!

 

On Friday we started our Christmas weekend with a trip to Westfield shopping centre in Stratford as we had never been before and thought it would be a nice change to do our shopping there. I was armed with a list of presents for everyone so it was just a case of perusing the shops and going in the ones we knew we needed to (or wanted to). After we finished we had a nice glass of bubbles at the champagne bar to celebrate being super organised! Another little bonus came as we went to pay for parking when leaving and discovered it was free until Sunday. 

 

On Saturday we went to Borough Christmas market near Tower Bridge in London with close friends and ate way too much good food! There were so many delicious treats there it should be illegal! My favourite buy was a rustic roll with chorizo, roasted pepper and rocket...OH MY! For the five minutes it took me to eat it I was in heaven. We came away with a few different breads, meats and cheeses to enjoy over the rest of the weekend but could have easily bought so much more. I pretty much drank my weight in mulled wine too so by the time we were home on the sofa I felt like a stuffed turkey.

 

(I am going to do a more detailed post about Borough market on my food blog very shortly)

To top off our first festive weekend, on Sunday we put up the christmas tree. Now the house feels REALLY homely. I would keep the lights up all year if I was allowed (Well for winter at least) I love sitting all cosy and warm on the sofa with nothing but the lights from the tree filling the room. Magic!

 

Now thanks to our (my) super duper organisation skills we can relax and enjoy the countdown to the big day. Last year I can remember I had bought quite a few pressies in October in my attempt to be ahead of the game and then stopped buying for a while and before I knew it, it was December... I didn't want to make the same mistake this year.