Counting down to Christmas

Can you believe there is only a little over three weeks left to Christmas! Usually I have been a little more organised with my Christmas shopping, but I have to admit this year has gotten away from me a little, arrgh!

So let me help you feel a bit more organised as we head into the festive season, with some geekalicious book suggestions for making gifts, decorating, Christmas Day meal planning (lets face it, the food is a pretty important component of the day) and entertainment.

First up has to be getting those gifts ready. Harry Potter fans are sure to love anything you make them from The unofficial guide to crafting the world of Harry Potter : 30 magical crafts for witches and wizards by Jamie Harrington. From Butterbeer Lip Balm to your very own golden snitch necklace, this book is a treasure trove of gift ideas.

Another excellent book to check out is Bonnie Burton's Star Wars craft book, with ideas such as an AT-AT herb garden, an Ewok flower vase, and my personal favourite, the Chewbacca sock puppet - every household needs one!

And now to the decorating, what could be cooler than Lego themed decorations! The LEGO Christmas ornaments book: 15 designs to spread holiday cheer by Chris McVeigh has a stunning array of Lego plans for you to build the most gorgeous tree decorations, you'll be looking truly festive in no time at all, and have fun doing it.

Now, if you are a bit of a The Great British Bake Off fangirl like I am, you will totally love The great British bake off: Christmas by Lizzie Kamensetzky. What better way to plan your Christmas menu! This gem will make you look like a true Christmas goddess with recipes from a variety of contestants and judges Mary and Paul. If someone feels like whipping me up some of Mary's ultimate Christmas Pud, I will forever be in your favour :)

Now that we have made some gifts, got the place looking festive, and cooked up some amazing Christmas noms, you'll be about ready for something nice and relaxing to do.
Personally, I love a good wee Christmas story and every year the lovely Debbie Macomber kindly provides one that really warms the heart. Some of my past favourites have included Dashing through the snow, Starry night and Call me Mrs. Miracle. I'm eagerly awaiting her latest for this year 12 days of Christmas.

Another one of my favourite things to look forward to at Christmas time is the Dr Who Christmas specials. I may still be getting over last year's Doctor Who: The husbands of River Song, which made me laugh and cry in fairly equal portions. The previous years installment Dr Who: Last Christmas kind of terrified me (along with making me want to laugh and cry), guess that is just the magic of Doctor Who!

Righty, I think we're looking pretty organised now - back to finishing that shopping :)

Have yourself a geekalicious Christmas!

This year, it seemed the universe was telling me I needed to make our Christmas an extra special geeky one. I kept stumbling across wonderful pins on Pinterest such as this post on how to geek up your Christmas, this rather impressive Darth Vader tree (which was shared to my facebook wall no less than 4 times!) and lastly this rather inspirational Dr Who tree tutorial.

It all took me back to my flatting years in the mid 90s, and the very untraditional awesomeness that was our Spice Girl Christmas tree. Scary, Sporty, Baby, Ginger and Posh made for some fabulous decorations and the tree was very much a sight to behold. I just wish I had some photographic evidence to prove it. Sadly those were not digital days, and I don't, so I'm going to have to leave it to your imaginations ;) (and hey, if I've made you a little nostalgic, you can request their Greatest hits here).

Feeling my own nostalgia, I decided we really needed a geektastic tree, and inspired by those fantastic pins above I settled on a Dr Who theme. My 3 and 5 year old sons fully embraced the idea. Whilst they have never actually seen the show, they are in love with all the STUFF. They think the Tardis, Daleks, Cybermen and Weeping angels (which they have renamed scary fairies) are just the best. I'm hoping they will forgive me when they look back in future years and realise just what they were playing with, ahem! Their Dad just said 'really?' and shook his head (but he is rather impressed with it now it is complete, I know he is).

And so the decoration making commenced. It became a bit of an addiction, and this blog post was going to be shared much earlier in the month, but I kept needing to make just one more thing (needs another felt Dalek, just how hard can cross-stitching a Tardis be?) and so it all took a bit longer than expected. Lesson learned - start your geek tree decoration making as early as possible - I'm thinking I'll start on next year's tree in January ;) There were admittedly some fails along the way. I was going to make my very own Weeping angel topper, but it proved too hard for my crafting skills, so an actual Christmas angel was sacrificed for the cause, I think it was worth it :)

Where to from here? Must be time to borrow some Dr Who DVDs from the library (here are series Six and Seven in case you want to join me) and marathon some Christmas specials , as I wait for this years to come on TV *rubs hands*
And maybe while I'm waiting, I'll start researching next year's tree - the boys have put in a suggestion for a Minecraft theme, we'll see ;)

The Twelve Posts of Christmas: Tinsel Here, There And Everywhere

I'm pretty much a low-key sort of person in regards to decorations.

A tiny tree that will fit on a desk, a sprinkle of tinsel, maybe some fairy lights and voila I'm done.

Some people on the other hand can and do go full-on.

From the Christmas tree with everything...

... to a house that glows so much that you've got to wonder about their power bill...

... and if they can sleep at night, what with all the lights and things glaring in their face.

 Pretty to look at but terrible to live with.

I'll think I'll stick to a much simpler and less expensive Christmas.  Like maybe a book tree?

Of course if I was remotely crafty I would also make my own Christmas decorations.

Like maybe these superhero ornaments to hang off your tree

 Then again it just sounds like too much work.

Of course for those of you who are crafty maybe some of these books will give you decorating inspiration.

Martha Stewart eat your heart.

Washi Tape Christmas : Easy Holiday Craft Ideas with Washi Tape

Christmas decorations.  Made out of tape.

Now that is my kind of Christmas craft
 
Trim the Tree : Christmas Ornaments to Stitch

Just as I am not a shopper, I am also not a stitcher. 

Me and sewing go hand in hand like gasoline and a match with pretty much the same effect, in other words a disaster.

Trust me you don't want me anywhere a needle and thread.

Natural Christmas Crafts

I really like the candle decorations on the front cover of this book.

If only I was a crafter...

Have Yourself a Homemade Christmas

A play on that Christmas song, Gooseberry the publishers of this book have been churning out Christmas craft books and cookbooks for years now.

I must admit I'm very tempted to check this out, just for the Christmas cookies alone.

Handcrafted Christmas : Ornaments, Decorations, and Cookie Recipes to Make at Home

And finally another Christmas craft book.

Because you can never have too many.

Feeling inspired yet?