It's On Its Way...

   It may only be October 24th (and the last day for Christmas sock exchange sign ups!), but as far as I'm concerned, Christmas is right around the corner.

   I've got a long list of gift ideas, which makes a change, and have already started buying a few; I've got almost all my Christmas gift guides sorted, too, and they'll be going up every Saturday as of last week until December 2nd! I started, naturally, with a gift guide for animal lovers. I'm in the process of stocking up on Christmas favourites in Myth of the Wild, and I've got lots of recipes to test, too!

   But aside from giggling to myself whenever the lights have to be turned on because it's too dark to see by, or snuggling up in pyjamas, a dressing gown, thick socks and a hot mug of tea while watching my present TV binge (Stargate SG-1) because my head won't work with my writing anymore, I'm trying to keep my head. Admittedly I'm not trying very hard, but I am trying.

   So, despite having been in Christmas mode since the beginning of the month, I've managed to hold back, and only now have I begun listing Christmas products back in my shop. I have a new - or, rather, updated - Christmas collection, but as I still have some stock left over from last year, I'm listing the older pieces first. So far I've listed the polar bear necklace, the baby penguin necklace, A Christmas Carol book flower necklace, and A Christmas Carol paper snowflake necklace.

   I've also listed a new nerdy favourite - a Christmas Pepe! Little Pepe is wearing a Christmas hat and has moved into a snowy jar.

   I'll be listing a few pieces a day until the end of the month, and I'll compile them all here once they're all available for sale, but they'll all be appearing in the Christmas section of my shop and on my twitter as they go live. There will be a complete Christmas bundle listing which will include all 10 Christmas pieces from this year's collection (Pepe isn't involved, he's just there for the nerdically-inclined), but it will be limited to just 1, as always, with the option to have the set completed as necklaces or as free-standing ornaments. The duplicate pieces will all be sold separately as necklaces.

   I'm so excited! Christmas is my absolute favourite time of the year! I love every single part of it - the music, the lights, the decorations, the food, the smells, the scarves, the presents! I also consider myself lucky to have a very small family and small group of friends because it means that social stress (and dealing with people you're obligated to see but don't really like or have anything in common with at all) is kept to a minimum.

   That said, my shop usually provides me with enough to compensate for that (it is just me making, packing, sending and dealing with all customer service!), so I always like to pencil in some Christmas outings with friends and family once a week to force myself to get away from it all. Being a carer all day every day means there's no such thing as a day off, and I'll do shop work the whole time I'm home, too. So I force myself to take a few hours away one day a week - go to a Christmas market, go to a shopping centre and look at all the Christmas decorations and displays, buy a few gifts and looots of Chocolate, go to some kind of wildlife park, things like that. Or perhaps have some friends over for board games and cake.

   I love to make a day out of decorating the house, too, it's so much freaking fun, but I do it only 2 weeks before Christmas - yes, I manage to hold off that long - and sales tend to start slowing down by that point. I usually keep all my truly festive fun for then, like wrapping presents, watching Christmas movies and so on. I'll break out the music, the food and the candles on December 1st at 6:30 am when I get up, no joke. It's officially Christmas at that point. But I prefer to keep movies and the handling of Christmas glamour until the decorations are up simply for ambience. And because otherwise I'll watch Christmas films to death and be sick of it by the middle of the month. You have to have boundaries, you know? 

   Otherwise, yes, I am keeping my head. Yes I am. Aside from testing a few Christmas recipes as early as today. I swear, since I started eating more, rather than an enemy, food has become so exciting! Even when you're still eating healthily - while being difficult, it can also be quite enjoyable to attempt to make healthier versions of not-so-healthy festive favourites. Not so much as an overall substitute, but more to fill the I'm-hungry-for-something-festive gaps in between and avoid putting on unnecessary weight.
   I know. It sounds boring, but I promise it isn't. And it makes a true indulgence of a full-fat, gorgeously sweet real mince pie all the better.

   For now, though, I'm keeping the recipes to myself, perfecting them and getting them ready for sharing at a more seasonal time, and listing Christmas jewellery slowly. And certainly not pre-ordering Legend of Zelda Christmas jumpers. Because that's just silly...