It's beginning to look a lot like christmas!

My last Christmas market of 2012 was on the 8 December. A huge thank you to all the lovely people who came and chatted, and especially to those who bought things! It was a great event, busy all day and the Horniman Museum was an amazing venue in the bright winter sun. Thank you to Lucy and the Horniman for putting it on!

I have to admit, I was pretty shattered after three weekends of markets in a row, and weeks of making stock, but I had the next challenge to concentrate on so after one night of R&R (a Chinese take-away and the X-Factor final!) it was time to DIY!

We moved house in August but months later there were still loads of packing boxes in each room. With a Christmas deadline to get downstairs presentable at least I needed to get busy in the workshop! Our dining room has two large alcoves, and I own about a gazillion books so it made sense to build in floor to ceiling shelves to house our 'library'. I made these thick 'floating' shelves from mdf and timber (and am happy to provide details should anyone wish to make some themselves) They are pretty easy to make and relatively easy to install (although I speak from experience when I recommend that someone should always hold the ladder. Poor Kieran!)

With the addition of some ultra cool Star Wars inspired retro prints from Etsy and our gorgeous old wooden table purchased from Ardingly antiques fair, it's finally starting to feel like a home. We also made time to tackle the enormous box mountain that was in the corner of the front room: a couple of hours later and the corner looked like this!

Hooray! It's beginning to look a lot like christmas.....finally! We are hosting our first ever christmas lunch with both families round to us. The husband is in charge of food and I am in charge of spatial design (ie making sure we can all fit!) and decorations. A pretty good deal I think? Even though there's less than a week to go, there's still time to make some lovely festive decorations, and great finishing touches.

As this is our first Christmas with a child who understands what it's all about, I'm really keen to start some family traditions of our own. My next post will be all about quick, simple handmade christmas ideas that could become part of your festive rituals. I'd love to hear about any quirky traditions that your family have at this time of year too!

Thanks for reading :)