Blogmas Day 7: Christmas shopping

If I got money every time someone asked me if I was all set for Christmas and all my shopping was done, I'd have enough money to buy myself lots of expensive presents.

I know plenty of people who have it all done and dusted or know exactly what kinds of gifts they need to complete their list....

I can't operate that way.  

I have to happen upon a gift while browsing shops, I have to see it and decide on impulse, if I forward plan, it doesn't work.  

I end up with something generic or not quite suitable and end up shoving it in a cupboard somewhere in the hopes it suits someone else and just go out shopping again until I get it right. 

It's only the 7th day of December, so I still have time before any sort of panic has to happen, but I also can't bring myself to do Christmas shopping in advance.  I'm a last minute girl, I thrive on the pressure of knowing I have a very limited amount of time in which to find the perfect gift....it helps me bring out my A game! 

I could use my Mum as an effective case study for my method, she always says she doesn't ever get a bad present from me and the vast majority of her presents are chosen within a very last minute time frame. 

I actually blame my family for my lackadaisical approach to Christmas shopping - Mum and Dad both have a  birthday in November and my brother is five days before Christmas.  Add to that for future gift buying that my two Nephew's are also in November, which means I have 4 close family members all with a birthday shortly before Christmas.  You don't want to use up all your ideas on a birthday present and be completely unimaginative at Christmas, but equally you don't want to skimp on a birthday present either.  

If you need me during the week before Christmas....I'll be visiting several retailers for gifts and inspiration!

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Blogmas Day 6: I'm a Rory.

I recently started watching the Gilmore Girls revival....A Year in the Life - I'm only two episodes in at time of writing..no spoilers please. 

I've been a long time Gilmore Girls fan, I think I was around 14 or 15 when I saw my first episode after my mum had discovered it on one of our cable channels, we watched the series right through.......then when it ended about seven years later....we watched the whole series right through again.....and again....and again. 

We became word perfect, we have scenes we watch over and over again, we have scenes that we just can't watch, we have quotes we slip into every day conversations that make no sense to anyone else unless they too are a Gilmore Girls Fan. 

I even named my ukulele Paul Anka after Lorelai's dog (who was named after the singer...yes I know,I'm nuts). 

If you've never seen Gilmore Girls - do so - it's a tv show about a mother and daughter who live in a very unique small town, their lives, friendships, relationships and their family.  

It wasn't until watching one of the new episodes tonight that it occurred to me that there are similarities between myself and Rory - not purposefully, but I can see where I've followed a similar path. 

We both chose degrees and careers where our key skill set involves writing. Although Rory is a journalist/writer and I work in marketing, the key element to our bread and butter is in writing engaging and interesting copy. 

We both have a love of reading, I'm not sure I'll ever read as many books as Rory but if she wasn't a fictional character, I'm sure its a hobby we'd bond over. 

We both have had periods of uncertainty where what we are doing with our lives hasn't been abundantly clear, a lot of mine was documented in the earlier posts on my blog and have both found a way out of what period and navigated an improved path for ourselves. 

We both rely heavily on sarcasm and pop culture to navigate our way through human interaction and friendship. 

I wish I had her striking blue eyes and her wardrobe but I'll settle for being like minded. 

Although this post isn't very Christmas-y, some of my favourite episodes of Gilmore Girls have been Christmas or Winter orientated...so I've decided it totally counts!!

I'll be less rubbish tomorrow :-) 

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Blogmas Day 5: Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I know it's only the fifth of December but Christmas is almost in full swing already....Christmas services have started, Christmas shoppers have descended upon retailers, office parties are about to take place and lights are everywhere. 

If you weren't paying attention, you'd think it was Christmas Eve with the sheer volume of Christmas decorations. 

Everyone has there own marker for when it's officially Christmas for some its the Holidays are coming advert, for some its the John Lewis Advert, for some its when the lights go on, for some its when Eastenders comes on during Christmas Day or when the office closes.  Mine has moved around over the years.

One of my favourite things to do as a kid was to go with my parents, just a few streets over and view the lights of once house in particular - everyone knows someone who goes overboard with their Christmas decorations and one family a few streets away from me, really did go to town. 

There was Santa waiting by the Chimney, lights on all the greenery and shrubbery in the garden, decorations scattered around the outside of the house...Christmas songs booming loud and proud from a speaker and even a television pushed up against the window playing Christmas films.....it's been such a long time that I doubt the same family even live there, and if they do, they don't go to the same extreme.

There was something very magical about that house, not necessarily the lights and entertainment, but the sense that they loved Christmas as much as I did, gave me all sorts of happy feelings as a kid and made me feel like Christmas was right around the corner. 

My offical 'Christmas is here' feeling kicks in now just after my brother's birthday on the 20th.  Don't even get me started on having a sibling with a birthday in the same week as Christmas - most annoying!

The Upsidedown tree pictured above belongs to my friend Lorna - it's fab!

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Blogmas Day 4: Welcome Home

It's been a busy old weekend.  today my mum and I spent the evening with our friends who recently returned home from abroad after living in another country for several years.

We had hot chocolate (well everyone else at the table did, I had Irn Bru) and went to see some Christmas lights. 

It was both lovely and surreal to see them, their children are older now than they were the last time we saw them so it was strange to have a change from how I've seen them in my head over the years while they've been gone. 

It was a nice reminder that with friends, it doesn't matter how often you see each other, what matters is that when you do see each other, nothing changes, 

Welcome home x

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Blogmas Belated Day 3: Family.

On the third day of Blogmas Rachie blogged to me.....absolutely nothing!
Day 3 is a day late........

I left the house in the morning, tenor horn in hand to go play some Christmas music and got home just after midnight, yesterday was a busy one. 

I began my day playing carols in the city centre before hopping over to a Christmas Fayre a little further afield to help out at a Christmas light switch on.  After that, I went to see a friend and hear all about her wedding plans.

It was a fun day and I even met a few familiar Disney faces without having to travel abroad!

It was definitely a day where it was hard not to feel festive but I've had similar days in similar years where I've really struggled to see the festive side of things because I've been too stressed or highly strung to think about the bigger picture. 

Family

The fayre I was at yesterday was in a small village but the hall was absolutely packed with children and families.  It's very easy to forget amid the chaos of festive events, where you feel like a sardine, that there is a magic to it for younger people and a big part of that magic stems from the experiences they share with their families in the lead up to Christmas.

It set me off thinking about why I enjoy Christmas so much.  
It occurred to me that I place quite a lot of my Christmas enjoyment on spending time with my family.
Almost all of my most favourite traditions involve visiting or spending time with family in some shape or form, whether its visiting my aunt and uncle for Christmas Dinner, a traditional Christmas present exchange, a trip to my brothers house,viewing the Christmas lights in busy streets.   

When I was younger a big part of my Christmas routine involved visiting my Grandparents, where for one day a year, we'd be allowed to enter the house via the front door rather than the back door.
It always throws me a little when I drive past their home now and I can see that the people who live there now have plastered over the back door and although I know I'm being silly, I always wonder how they will get in the house when it's not Christmas day. 

Even at 27, I rely heavily on family interaction to enjoy the festive season. The family doesn't always take the same shape,  some family members have passed on, others have slotted in or arrived in the world but the family focus has largely stayed the same. 

Day 4 brings a welcome home....more on that later.  

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Blogmas Day 2: Finding my festive spirit.

Cards on the table.....I don't feel very festive today.

I started my day at the funeral of a very lovely lady, one I'm exceedingly fortunate to have had be an influence in my life.
The funeral itself wasn't really a sombre occasion, it was upbeat and positive.

I went to work afterwards, which was pleasant, got some tasks accomplished and had some enjoyable banter with colleagues, even discussing blogmas with one of them!Hi Chelsea by the way, I promised I'd get a blog up tonight!!
I'm also sticking some of your ideas into my plan....I say plan....it's a page with scribbles and headings but it's the beginnings of a plan!!

Sometimes in December, I feel Christmas-y (its totally a word....and if its not, it should be) straight away and other times it takes me a few weeks.

For anyone else lacking in festive spirit, I've prepared a list of things that help me get into the festive spirit.
Also feel free to suggest your own!

Watch Christmas Movies

It's hard not to feel even a tiny bit festive when watching Christmas films, particularly the old classics like It's a Wonderful Life.  

My faves are The Grinch, Home Alone, Flint Street Nativity, Bad Santa, Nativity and Muppet's Christmas Carol. 

Listen to Christmas Songs

 I must admit to feeling somewhat festive at about seven minutes past eight yesterday morning when 'All I Want for Christmas is You' came on the radio as I was driving to work. I also must admit to singing along at the top of my lungs and wishing I had Mariah's range, alas, I do not. 

I get pretty sick of Christmas carols from about the first weekend in December onwards, but that's just because I play them several times a week throughout the month.

My go to songs for getting in the festive spirit are
Stop the Cavalry and Fairytale of New York.

Christmas Diet

I say Christmas diet....all that really means is I stop eating anything that remotely resembles Christmas Dinner until Christmas Day....this year, that is going out the window as I am going on a work's christmas night out soon and the best option for me is essentially Christmas Dinner. 

It sounds silly but the dedication to switching up my meals a little gets me feeling festive because I know my Christmas Dinner is imminently approaching and I wait for that bad boy all year!

Shopping

I try and avoid shops as much as I can in December but I tend to leave my present shopping far too late, miss final deliveries and frantically make my way to a shopping centre to rectify my error in judgement.  There's something quite nice about walking into a shop thats covered in tinsel, lights, trees, stars and other decorations. 

I also get a festive warm feeling in my stomach from buying gifts for others.

Christmas sales are nice too!!

I'm starting to feel a little more festive already....

Tomorrow...I venture out into the world to play Christmas Carols... and take part in a light switch on.
That'll be festive!

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Blogmas Day 1: Hello December

I got up this morning, opened door one in my Moo Free advent calendar, got in my car, drove to work, listened to some Christmas songs on the radio, responded to a message about a Christmas night out and about half way through the day it hit me that its actually December.  As in the last month of the year.........

My year has actually vanished, which possibly isn't a bad thing, they do say time flies when you are having fun.

I've been watching some vlogmas videos today and reading some blogmas posts and decided to give it a go this year!

Playing in a brass band, I tend to have a pretty busy December most years....so I shouldn't be stuck for things to talk about and document along my journey to Christmas! 

Trouble is....I haven't actually thought this through or done any forward planning.....

So to ease me into Blogmas....seeing as it's the first of December...I'm considering how the number one has impacted my year. 


One Driving Licence 
I passed my driving test in October and can finally drive!! I've yet to master parking and I've not really ventured beyond driving between work, home and the local cinema but it's a work in progress!
One - Car! 
After I passed my test, I got a little purple car to get me to work and named it Phoebe.  

One New Job 
One of the best things to happen this year was that I managed to get a job! And one that uses my degree! After so many knock backs, my confidence had vanished and my spirit was all but gone but I feel so much more like myself again.
One - One year old nephew! 
Although my Nephew Harry was born last November, it was really this year before he started becoming a person and not a tiny sleeping ball of smallness.  He has such an amazing personality, a cracking smile and a fantastic sense of mischief...and he's just turned one.  Literally everything is a magical new discovery to him and that little fire in his belly is infectious. 

Maybe One has been my lucky number this year.
I shall aim to make tomorrow far more interesting! :-)

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