With the festive season fast approaching, there’s a million and one things we’ve got to think about. From little stocking fillers to deciding who’s hosting the dinner this year; we’ve all got a lot on our plates and that’s even before we’ve bought the pigs in blankets. Something that should be fun for all the family is decorating the Christmas tree. It can be an evening well spent, with some mulled wine, mince pies and Michael Buble playing. How are you going to decorate yours this year? Natural or Synthetic First things first, you need to pick the kind of tree you want. There’s two ... read more
Angel’s Great Escape – A Christmas Story
Only two weeks to go until the big day and after a couple of weeks of absolute stress and emotional upheaval I'm ready to bunker down with the kids and enjoy the Christmas season properly now. I've great plans for lots of curling up on the sofa with Christmassy books, family film watching marathons and lots of luxurious festive food. The kids books are all in a bit of a muddle between their dad's new house and my flat and so I'm not totally sure which books are where, so I'm really making the most of some of the Christmas titles that I've been sent to review this year. In the muddle of ... read more
Grinch Christmas Bunting #Grinchmas
I'm going to say it. I LOVE Christmas! I love all the build up and anticipation as it gets closer to the big day. The excitement of the build up and also how excited the kids get too. I love seeing all the decorations and Christmas lights and also hearing Christmas songs on the radio and festive carols playing. It's a lovely opportunity to spend time with family and friends and enjoy being with the ones we love. Even the Christmas edition of the Radio Times is somewhat magical in its own right. It therefore seems somewhat backwards that I also love the Grinch. This particular Mr Grumpy ... read more
Free Christmas Dice Games
I think this is the year that my family has really got family games. Suddenly all the kids are just of the age where they can sit down at the table together and start to enjoy games and we've already had a couple of lovely evenings sat around playing things together and having a really good laugh in the process. They need to be tailored just right, so that they work for all three children, but they are a great way of bringing a family together and having some fun together. I was blown away recently by just how expensive some board games can be, so being the thrifty type that I am I've been ... read more
The 12 Sleighs of Christmas – Sherri Duskey Rinker and Jake Parker
Everyone knows that it's the Elves who keep Santa in check and make sure that everything is in place so that Christmas Eve and present deliveries go without a hitch. The source or build the presents, wrap them all and make sure they're all delivered to the right addresses. Whole films have been set about the lengths that they'll go to make sure that no child goes without on Christmas morning. But, what about Santa's sleigh itself? Who makes sure that it's all ready for the mammoth journey that it has to do that night? Fear not - just like a well tuned Formula One pit crew the elves also ... read more
Making Christmas magical with a personalised letter from Santa
Christmas is a magical time of year for children and part of that magic has to be Santa. Whether you call him Santa Claus, Father Christmas, St Nic or Santa Christmas (as Master C currently does!) the same magic surrounds the man in red and there's no doubt that his visit is what most children look forward to most at Christmas. How Father Christmas "works" might be different in each family, but his arrival whilst children sleep on Christmas Eve is seen as being pure magic and it's therefore no surprise that children start writing their letters to him months in advance as they are so keen to ... read more
The Twelve Dogs of Christmas – Alison Ritchie and Marisa Morea
Christmas picture books are arriving on my doorstep on an almost daily basis right now, with The Twelve Dogs of Christmas one of the most recent, and I'm actually really enjoying starting to get into the Christmas spirit. Master C has already asked how many sleeps there are until Christmas and, for now, seems satisfied with my answer, so I just have to hope that the requests to put up the Christmas tree don't start just yet! The Twelve Dogs of Christmas is a lovely little tale about a puppy's excitement in the lead up to his first Christmas. The lovely rhyming text makes it the perfect sort ... read more
A Very Pompom Christmas – 20 Festive Projects to Make
October on the calendar means it's perfectly acceptable to talk about Christmas right? I hope so, as that's exactly what I plan to do today as I review the amazing book A Very Pompom Christmas from GMC Books. Written by Jemima Schlee, the subtitle of this book is 20 festive projects to make, and that's exactly what it is. Now, I've come across Jemima Schlee before after picking up one of her previous books, Take a Tea Towel on a GMC stand at Knitting and Stitching, and so I had rather high hopes for this book and they were certainly met by it. I love a Pompom. There's just something ... read more
Vlogmas 2016 – Day 19 #vlogmas16
AWOL over the weekend (sorry!) but vlogmas is still ongoing. Just! It's been a busy pre-Christmas weekend. We went off to see the panto at the Albans Arena, actually went "out out" to a Christmas party where I got to talk to grownups without a child hanging off my leg, and another podcast was released out into the wild. If you're interested in the These People Podcast then it can be found on iTunes or all other good podcast apps, or you can listen via our website at http://www.thesepeoplepodcast.com And if you fancy coming on as a guest then just tweet me or tweet the team. And if you want to ... read more
Vlogmas 2016 – Day 16 #vlogmas16
I've been AWOL from Vlogmas for a couple of days - mainly so I could actually sort out Christmas. That's done now though, so I'm back and talking about Little Miss C's school christmas nativity, podcasting, my new festive mug, and how I've managed to get Christmas sorted by cheating a bit! ... read more