I must confess | 30 days to Christmas

it's 30 sleeps until Christmas

and if you've been around these parts for a while, you know Christmas is big here

but I must confess, not this year

I don't have a binder

I don't have any idea what I'm buying, or baking, or making

I do have a budget

I do know how many days I have to shop

I must confess I'm surprised I'm not stressed

I don't even know if Steve will be home on the big day

so I'm planning a quiet affair

I must confess, I'm not organised at all

are you ready for the big day?

linking up with My Home Truths

goodbye hamper day

I've been getting hampers in November for eleven years. But today is our last hamper day. We decided that, while we end up with a restocked pantry and freezer, it's not the "right" Christmas stuff. And we'd be better off putting that money aside each week and having a big grocery shop in early December.

But as the boxes arrived today, Riley was so excited. I was reminded of how excited Chloe would get on hamper day, opening boxes, holding the list to make sure everything was in the boxes, finding room in the cupboards. And I'm sad that we won't be doing that any more.

Now we can make a new Christmas tradition for our food shopping.

cook the magazines

If you follow me on instagram, you might have noticed me sharing photos of magazines. I don't buy many physical magazines any more, preferring to read digital mags, but Christmas mags are an exception to this.

I love Christmas magazines for the fun new craft and recipe ideas they share, and often get gift ideas from them as well. My favourite thing to do in the lead up to Christmas is decide what recipes I want to try this year, and have a go at whipping them up.

I'm partial to cakes and cookies, fudges and truffles, but I've been known to try new vegetable recipes, glazes for hams, and dipping sauces for prawns. Last year, one of the blogs I follow via facebook ran a series of posts where they trialled the magazine recipes, and wrote reviews. I cannot remember who it was, but I've been waiting all year to run a series myself.

Of course, when I got the idea in my head I didn't plan for a baby who only likes to sleep in mum's arms. Or a husband working away from home. So I'm still going to drool over magazines, and share the love via facebook and instagram, but I might not actually write a post here. I'm just excited to start doing some Christmas baking!

Do you buy too many Christmas magazines?