All the festive feels…

All the festive feels.

Tis the season to be jolly.

Is anyone else getting into the spirit of Christmas? It might be a little early for some of you but it’s all happening over here. Chez Hargreaves are in a jolly old mood. Festive dates in the diary, list making, menu planning, outfit planning (of course). Oh I do LOVE Christmas. There’s nothing quite like visiting your local garden centre and taking a selfie with a Reindeer to get you all excited. That was us on Sunday morning.

And can I just say that it’s only five weeks away. Five week’s away people. Until the most magical time of year. Of uninterrupted family time, making people smile, seeing friends, of choosing that perfect gift for your loved ones, evening spent gift wrapping and eating mince pies with lashings of cream. So let me ask you this – are you excited or are you a Festive grump? You may want to stop reading if you are a bit of a grump. Just excitement here please.

I say yes to shopping for baubles and twinkly lights. Yes to enjoying a mulled wine. Yes to playing Santa and buying all of our gifts for George. Yes to decorating the tree with Christmas songs playing in the background. Yes to making plans. And yes to one of my favourite times of the year. I am so excited for this weekend coming. A Hargreaves Family Tradition – when we head out to our local Christmas Tree Farm and seek out the biggest and the best tree we can find. Tagging them and then heading home for a hot chocolate topped with gooey marshmallows. And maybe a Christmas movie, who am I kidding. That is definitely happening.

We are a family of plan-a-headers (is that even a word?). We spend November organising, shopping and planning our diary. Buying Christmas cards and wrapping paper. I love choosing wrapping paper. The thought of Christmas shopping and supermarket dashes in December are enough to put anyone off, we do all this prior to the beginning of December so that we can enjoy long lazy weekends or festive day trips. That’s the plan. Who’s with me?

I’m all about the preparations, its all part of the excitement for me. I say me, we’re all just as giddy as each other. You can’t beat a good old build up. Mr H is all set to lock in our Tesco delivery slot. This will be the first year in three that we haven’t escaped to DisneyLand Paris at Christmas time so I really should get my thinking cap on for all of our Elf-antics. I usually only have to think of sixteen days whereas this year I need twenty four ideas to plan. Oh my goodness. On another note I have my Christmas party outfit sorted. Yay. I just need to think about Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day now *inserts smiley face*.

My social media channels were a bit of a mixed bag at the weekend, hence my ramblings. I was a little surprised to see the Christmas Grinch appearing with only five weeks to go. I didn’t dare post any stories of our festive outing on Sunday in fear of being ostracised. We had so much fun. The excitement is building for the Hargreaves Family. For every joyful person that I saw there was a Christmas Grinch or ten lurking in the background. I say no more Grinch-Mas bring on all the Merrimas. Yes I am making up my own words. It’s Christmas. And don’t get me wrong we haven’t put my Christmas Tree up yet, there are no decorations in sight – that never happens before December 1st but we are getting ready and I won’t hide it any longer. Fa La La.

And so if you’re looking for a sprinkling of festive joy then do say hello. You’ll find me giddy and full of merriment until 2019.