After our festive day out in London, Looby and I decided we couldn't wait any longer to deck our halls and bring Christmas to the Charlton house.  And then Abigail said she had an inset day so the festooning began.

Now I have to admit that things in our house had already began to get a little jolly, I'd been preparing gift guides since September after all and then this little chap and his babies arrived!

If you're a fan of Fantastic Beasts you may remember that the Niffler is a cute mole like character with a penchant for all things Gold and shiny, much fun has ensued since his arrival courtesy of Kap Toys, he arrived in glorious form with his Niffler babies which are brand new and available from independent toy stores and I think these are going to make the most wonderful presents this Christmas, just make sure you don't sit them too near your sparkly things.

Being one of the hosts of the #Nifflers Twitter party I can say was the most fun I'd had in ages, Nifflers really are the cutest and even more so in real life, the big one is so squishy and soft and the little ones are just the right size to fit in this years Christmas stockings, I'm actually surprised Holly Bobbins hasn't helped herself to one yet!!

Anyway, I digress, back to decking the halls and merrily festooning.  In total it's taken nearly a week to get everything the way we want it and I still have nothing outdoors, my garden is a mess and the weather has been too evil to do anything about it.  Indoors though we are a sparkly haven of warmth and twinkle.

and so to me, everything is now at one with the world, I've started my Christmas shopping and actually I'm doing pretty well with it, my house is sparkly enough that I feel no need to venture into the outdoor world and thank goodness for that as I score at least a 7/10 for being a reclusive hermit currently.  Next week is my annual Christmas party and I'm attempting to turn my entire kitchen table into a giant grazing platter which will go with my Christmas punch which combines Red Shloer with Prosecco, grapes and cranberries guaranteed to make any party a festively fabulous one!

The next few weeks are sure to pass in a blur, this time of year is so busy after all, I've pretty much turned down all invitations apart from my own party because I feel it's safer to let people come to me.  I shall however be taking a couple of weeks off at Christmas, I didn't book myself any weekends off last year so I reckon I'm overdue a long break where I can catch up on some books I've stockpiled, there can be no going back now though, Christmas 2018, we are coming to get you!

Christmas 2017 - The day, I took an extra day off

Today I took some extra time off, I'm trying so hard to spend as much time with Looby during the week, I've mentioned 347 billion times that I home educate during the week but it's November and people are panicking about Christmas already, it's always the same, I wish I could edit every single image I take at a weekend by a Monday and sometimes I do, I never take longer than 7 days for portraits and 4 weeks for weddings. I wish that I could clone myself and have more availability, I wish that I had the ability to magically appear on everyone's desk to tell them "It's December, your voucher you bought 12 months ago which expires soon, it's 12 months later"  My health and parenting Looby is paramount, they're the most important things and today I just needed time to be, time to put down my phone, put my iMac to sleep and festively decorate our house, research shows that people who put up their Christmas trees earlier are happier and maybe that should be the lesson of the day, put up your Christmas trees, admire the twinkly lights, open up a bottle of Baileys or in my case, break into the Amaretti biscuits and Turrone early whilst everyone is in bed.

I've always loved Christmas, it's the season of Joy and overwhelmingly people are nicer to each other, at least in the Christmas period when everyone stops and doesn't have to think about life, work or their problems for a couple of weeks.  There's something about sitting with tree lights festively twinkling which makes the world seem better, our house was made for Christmas, I love cosy and I hate my lounge in summer because with one wall being a giant window, it gets to be like a greenhouse, also cosy doesn't work so much in summer so I wait all year for autumn and winter when my house comes into its own and that's never more so than during the festive season, for me, Christmas really is a season.

As you might have worked out thus far, I don't do Christmas decor by halves, it's my time to shine, it's my time to light up the world with my interior decorating skills, each paper snowflake, each bauble must be in exactly the right place, I'm a little anal about it all which is weird because for most of the year I seem to live in disorganised chaos, maybe we should just keep our trees up all year around?

If you came here for photographs then you are in luck, they're all pretty low light and taken with my iPhone 8Plus which is actually astonishing, of course, yes it's about the person using it but they really have got better and better.  Now if you'd like to see my home in previous years there's Christmas 2016 and Christmas 2015 to start, I'm pretty sure you'll find 10 years or more if you just search it.  I think though, (after just scanning back) I've really nailed it this year, everything is a little more sparkly and we even have outdoor lights courtesy of a very cool laser thing which cost all of £20 from Home Bargains.

My downstairs tree from the last couple of years has now made it into the garden and I've replaced it with a rather snazzy snowy half Christmas tree from Argos which cost £49.99 and then a few pounds for the lights, we didn't put any decorations on it as it looks so real and beautiful and our kitchen always has a snowy Narnia theme.

There's something special this year about my lounge, it's the same Christmas tree as last year and the year before but I paid around £150 for it, again, it's got a really high needle count so looks like a real tree, something which I almost demand in a Christmas tree.  I found an amazing set of Christmas tree lights in Fenwick and it's almost like a curtain, it's joined at the top, you put it over the tree and you get 680 lights all perfectly falling over the tree, amazing, no random wires with up to 6 sets, just 1 set which will come off as easily as this went on, I can't recommend them enough.

The next thing is to make sure my bedroom has some festive touches, Looby has had a forest of trees in her bedroom for a couple of weeks, I've ordered a festive duvet set featuring a beagle, I realise it's a bit cheesier than usual but hey, it's Christmas, I also said to Looby we need to sort out our hallway and hopefully everything will be fabulous and as near to perfect as we can get just in time for our Christmas party which is a week on Friday.

I hope you all enjoy festively decorating your houses, do you do the whole house, and more importantly, how many Christmas trees?  If I could find space, I'd have even more!

Christmas Day 2016, A Festively Fabulous Affair

Christmas came and Christmas went in just 24 hours, doesn't it seem weird that we prepare for months to celebrate just one special day.  It's funny though because for just that very short window, time stands almost still, normal life exits stage left and you find yourself playing board games with your teenage children thinking "Blimey, it must be Christmas".

My Christmas this year was a quiet affair, on Christmas Eve, Harriet and Kelly came for Christmas dinner after Harriet and I had been to church for the usual crib service we enjoy so much, it's just an hour of joy and celebration as you sing carols as loud as your lungs will permit, that's quite loud if you are me!  Our Christmas dinner was a loud and raucous affair as we all descended into the kind of laughter which actually hurts and then just as they left my lovely friend Steve arrived wearing a knitted Santa bobble hat, so lovely to spend time with friends on Christmas Eve.

Just as the Christmas bells chimed and I was watching Midnight mass, my yearly tradition, a message pinged, Mr France telling me that he'd stayed awake just for me so that he would be the first person to wish me Happy Christmas, I can honestly say that this small gesture made my Christmas Day and I went to bed happy and smiling that someone would do something so lovely just for me.

Christmas Day arrived with the declaration from Looby that it was indeed Christmas and I bribed her with making me a cup of coffee if she wanted me to get up, Christmas comes in useful for so many things! 

My darling children really spoilt me rotten this Christmas, I have the most splendid teenagers who I adore and they clearly have a much bigger disposable income than me as they gifted me with a dress, 2 pairs of shoes, 1 being my most favourite Irregular Choice, Iain played a blinder with an Amazon firestick so I can watch The Grand Tour and the whole of Arrow which is the only DC series I've yet to watch, I also got some lovely London themed things from Harriet who anticipates that I might head southward just a few times next year!  Even Holly Bobbins was spoilt with a new collar from Barneys collars and some fabulous gifts from Best In Show

I also must give special mention to Peter and Cynthia, Harriets gorgeous parents who I've adopted, they bought me the most fabulous mini beagle and thanks to a brilliant suggestion by Mrs A on Twitter, I've named her "Martine De Beagle" She's sitting just in the corner of my sitting room watching Holly Bobbins quite closely, I'm not sure if Holly knows quite what to make of her but she's definitely aware that Martine is a beagle.

Yesterday was the best day with just my teens, we laughed until I had to go and sit on the floor in the hall to try and comfortably laugh without dying, my children are comedians and even if they are usually laughing at me rather than with me, it's hilarious all the same.

When the girls departed leaving just me, Holly and KT (my friend Laura's Tibetan Terrier) I felt that bittersweet tinge that I'm sure most single parents feel on Christmas Day but I sang along to Frozen, got teary eyed at a wonderfully romantic superhero episode of Doctor Who and soon Harriet arrived back from Yorkshire for just 1 more glass of Champagne and a festive cheeseboard.

Today, I am still in bed, I'm going out for lunch and then I shall be mooching until such a time as I put on my ball gown for it's annual outing to The Holly Ball, this year, though, I shall not be drinking so much tequila that I laugh myself to sleep because, between you and me, I can laugh myself to sleep these days without even so much as a breath of alcohol.

Don't be lonely this Christmas, come to our house!

Apologies for not blogging yesterday but between work and this sweet little face all of my time is taken up right now.

She's just so blooming adorable and I'm totally in love!

So I was lying half awake this morning worrying about Christmas again, I worry a lot dear reader, my daughters inform me that they will be away from Boxing day until late on the 27th and as Iain is getting new games for his PS4 it's unlikely he'll be coming down stairs very often so there's just a chance that I might be a bit blue, obviously I'll have Holly but it would also be lovely to have some company or have something planned to do and I'm wondering if maybe you're reading this and feeling the same, well my message to you is don't be lonely at Christmas, get in touch and lets do something, even if it's just coming around here and drinking copious amounts of Hestons Mulled Cider.  I'd also like to extend that invitation to Christmas day, if you are going to be on your own, why not get in touch and come here, the more the merrier in my opinion and no one, and I do mean no one should be lonely at Christmas or indeed that whole 2 week holiday period, I literally have no plans for the whole of the 2 week period and I love seeing people, kids, animals so lets do stuff!  Now obviously if you are a serial killer I might not be able to accommodate you but lots of regular readers of this blog I already know so if you're one of them and you might have moments of loneliness during the festive period just get in touch and we'll try to make this Christmas the best one ever.

I'm off to the beach this morning for 4 very chilly photo shoots, I'm thinking there aren't enough thermals in the world for being out there for 2.5 hours today dear reader but someone has to do it and tomorrow I have 6 back to back outdoor photo shoots in Saltwell Park, luckily it's supposed to be a tad warmer tommorrow.  Monday I have another 2 photo shoots and then next weekend I am out on Saturday for my final day of photo shoots and then it's a gradual downhill slide into Christmas, I have my shopping deliveries booked for next week, Christmas and the New Year, quite frankly I have never been quite so organised.

What I want to do now is make enough money to secure the time off without worry, a few more gifts on the wish lists for my children and some of my wish list for me, mainly books which should keep me entertained for the 2 weeks I'm off.  It's funny really, I've always worked on the middle weekend but I found that I just never really relax when I only have a few days off so this week 2 whole weeks and hopefully I will be as relaxed as I was when we went to Gran Canaria.

Whatever you are doing this festive weekend I hope you have the most amazing festive spectacular filled with wonder and magic, send me some warm thoughts!