Choose your own adventure! Christmas in July

Remember those “Choose your own adventure” books you had in the 80s? Here’s a mini-version: I couldn’t quite make up my own mind about this topic, so I wrote two blog posts. You get to pick which one you read... (and of course, if you don’t like what you read, you can cheat and go back and read the other one too!)

So you are standing on a sun baked street, wondering where you can get an ice-cream, or a cold beer, or both, when someone hands you an invitation to a Christmas party, this afternoon. Do you

a) think “A Christmas party in the summer? Cool!” and head for the address on the card immediately? If so, click here.

or b) stare dumbfounded at the card, which depicts a snowy scene with a cutesy robin perched on the handle of the spade, then, wiping the sweat from your brow, crumple it into your pocket and head for the nearest air-conditioned bar? If so, click here.

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b) Bah Humbug!

If you’re anything like me, the word Christmas popping up much before mid-October feels all wrong. I grew up in a house where the tree wasn’t bought until the first day of the school holidays, and the decorations and fairy lights weren’t put up until Christmas Eve. This was a breathlessly exciting day for us as children - after all the anticipation, decorating the tree on 24th December seemed to symbolise that the celebrations were properly beginning, and in a few short hours we’d hang up our stockings (actually Dad’s old walking socks) and try desperately to stay awake long enough to see Father Christmas...

These days (she says, trying not to sound old and curmudgeonly), the shops seem to sell decorations earlier and earlier, and last year I stomped out of a high street shop because they were playing carols in October. Decorations and trees are everywhere before the end of November, and the notion of waiting until Christmas Eve seems nothing short of Scrooge-like denial that there’s a MASSIVE festival happening. We then all eat far too much, give and receive heaps of presents we don’t need or want, and complain about our waistlines and hangovers for several weeks afterwards.

So when I came across the phrase “Christmas in July” I was horrified. If Christmas can happen in the summer, there’s no hope at all of holding the whole thing at bay until December - and as everyone knows, once something is around us all the time, it soon ceases to be exciting at all.

My initial research suggested Christmas in July was something cooked up by northern hemisphere emigrants to the southern hemisphere, who, on finding that celebrating Christmas during summertime felt very strange indeed, decided to inaugurate a second Christmas celebration in the southern hemisphere winter, in July, so that eating big roast dinners, lighting fires and candles, exchanging cards depicting robins and snow, and snuggling up in unflatteringly chunky knitted sweaters with reindeer on the chest felt more appropriate. This all makes a lot of sense, really.

However, the version I’ve come across recently on Etsy is altogether a more commercial enterprise, aimed at enticing the super-organised to get ahead with their Christmas shopping (“You too could have the whole lot wrapped and hidden away by the end of the summer holidays!”). The idea has taken off and now there are sales and promotions worldwide, but especially in the USA, to encourage people to buy presents early.

In marketing terms, this is a splendid idea. There are no major public holidays in the summer, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day have been and gone, and there are no national events that might require the buying and giving of presents. Shops traditionally have to ride over this slack time, and use it to prepare for what they hope might be the Christmas rush. So, thinks some clever chap, why not start the Christmas rush early, so that those who can’t stand the idea of fighting for elbow-room alongside everyone else in December, can quietly go about their gift-buying business while everyone else is getting a suntan or food-poisoning from an ill-lit barbecue...

I admit to feeling sceptical about this, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, as I mentioned above, I like Christmas to be really special, and that means keeping it short and concentrated and not starting too early and getting bored by mid-November. My second objection is that I don’t trust my own systems: there’s a pretty strong chance that by December I’ll have forgotten where I put the things I bought in July, and if I go so far as to wrap them up in July as well, when I eventually find them I’ll have to unwrap them all again to remind myself what I’d bought!

But if you like the idea, and of course you’re welcome to your own opinion, head on over to my Etsy shop, Morgan & Pink, where use of the code CIJUK10 will give you a sparkly 10% off everything purchased during July. Just don’t blame me if you’ve lost them again by 24th December...

Lilac rosebud & pearl earrings on gold hooks, yours for £20

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a) Christmas in July? All my dreams come true!

Perhaps like me you know one or two people who have a box tucked away somewhere with a selection of presents in it, bought on a whim from time to time so that they’ll never be short of a gift, even when invited to a children’s birthday party at short notice. I am not one of these people, but I would love to be. And I recently stumbled on a rather clever promotion on Etsy called Christmas in July, which might just help me achieve this, and save money into the bargain!

It may seem a little unseasonal to be considering Christmas while simultaneously planning the summer holidays, but in many ways it makes a lot of sense. Who wants to be the person madly rushing round the high street in the cold gloom of a December afternoon, becoming increasingly frantic at the thought of not finding the perfect gift, especially when it’s cold outside so you’re muffled up in your warmest coat, but the shop assistants are all in t-shirts and have the heating turned up, and every time you get close to the things you actually want to buy you find yourself surrounded by pointy elbows jabbing at your ribs and great big feet stomping on yours, and the carols are blasting away on a loop making you feel less good-willed by the minute...

Glass of Pimms, anyone?

Imagine instead that you’re sitting on the patio / veranda / sofa with your feet up, and a glass of something long and cool beside you, the summer breeze drifting in through the open window, while you browse fabulous gifts, handmade by British craftspeople, in the peace and quiet of your own home. Before you know it, you’ll be well ahead of the Jones’ and there will be no need to panic later in the year. You might even spot something perfect for Aunt Lily’s 90th birthday, or Cousin Charlie’s wedding while you’re at it - it doesn’t have to be just Christmas presents! It’s also a great time to commission something personal, while there’s still plenty of time to have it made to your exact specifications.

Sterling silver initial charm necklace, made to order; email fiona@morganandpink.co.uk for details

So what are you waiting for? Head on over to Morgan & Pink, and use the code CIJUK10 to take advantage of 10% off at any time in July, and at any other Etsy shops taking part in the promotion (search using the same code). Bring your own carols, mince pies, and elbow room... or Pimms and flip flops if you prefer :-)

"It was on a starry night...." Sterling silver star pendant, yours for £18

Wednesday Window: Mostly Books, Abingdon

It seems to be Thursday already, but never mind! Here's this week's Wednesday Window, better late than never...

This week is Independent Booksellers Week, so let's celebrate!

What does an independent bookshop mean to you? Good customer service? Personal touches? More quirky than the big generic "book stores"? Somewhere to while away hours and hours ...?

My favourite independent bookshop at the moment is Mostly Books in Abingdon. It's the kind of place where you can pop in and say "I need something as a gift for a 3 year old whose parents have lots of books already", and they pause for a split second to think and then say, "Well, how about this? It was only published last month, and we think it's brilliant". Then they leave you in peace to sit in a corner and read said book. And yes, they're right, it's brilliant. So you head back to the shelves for another copy for your own child, and you find yourself picking up one or two other things that catch your eye...

Like all good bookshops, you lose track of time in here, and invariably spend more money than you meant to, but you don't regret it. If you're anywhere nearby, I'd recommend you visit them. And if you're not nearby, check out their amazingly cool idea, Books throughout the year, where you can subscribe to receive personally chosen books at regular intervals all year. You tell them the genre or favourite books of the person who'll be receiving the books, and they do the rest.

While you're here, please leave a shout out for your favourite independent bookshop in the comments below :-)

Where's the grown-up?

This one's for my sisters, with whom I was discussing this very problem last weekend...

Have you ever noticed something out of place in your home, or car, and then, perhaps a few days later, noticed it again and thought “Why hasn’t anyone done anything about that yet?” This happens to me ALL the time, and then I get that sinking realisation that there is no-one else who is going to do anything about it. Either because it’s one of those little things that no-one else in the house would notice anyway, or because (a harsher truth) no-one else cares enough to do anything about it. Or, worse still, it was me that put the thing in that place, and maybe everyone else thinks I still want it to be there, even when that thing is a Thermos mug of now furry tea that’s been in the car for a week. And that’s when I wish there was a grown-up about the place to help.

I’ve officially been a grown-up for quite some time now, and I’ve made it worse by becoming a parent. Before I had children I had time to tidy up after myself (ok, this doesn’t mean I always did tidy up, but I could have done, easily), and generally speaking, things stayed in the places I wanted them to, and weren’t moved, hidden or otherwise appropriated by anyone else. If there was a mess, I knew for definite I had to deal with it. But somehow, now there are three other people in my life, the lines have got blurred. I no longer have time for, well, anything (at least it feels like that sometimes), and quite often I can say hand on heart that I certainly didn’t put that thing there, so why oh why should it be me that has to clear it up?

The problem is - actually there are three problems:

Firstly, I really do want everything to be tidy and in its place. I am a bit of a control freak about this. I dream of spotless minimalist interiors. I would organise and label everything in matching Martha Stewart jars, boxes and shelving units if I could, except that the rest of my family would first laugh at me for being so anal, and then ignore the system to the point where I couldn’t fight the chaos any more.

So in many cases, there genuinely is no-one in the house who cares as much as I do about the heaps of toys in the bathroom, or where the colouring pencils live, or about the fact that there seems to be an odd sock, a lego brick, a sandwich box, two books, a hairbrush, a juggling ball, a shoe, an unidentifiable smell, and a heap of coloured paper under the sofa.

Secondly, some of these tasks are things I can’t do on my own, because I’ve never learnt (changing light-bulbs in the car), or because they require two people (putting things up into the loft which can only be reached by a rickety step-ladder), or because my husband has instilled in me such a lack of confidence that I daren’t try because I know it matters to him that it is ABSOLUTELY perfect, and that I won’t do it well enough (basically anything that involves drilling holes in the wall, or anything to do with gas, electricity, plumbing or computers) but with a 4-hour daily commute and an average office-day of 10 hours in the middle (and since February, a broken wrist as well), he doesn’t have time to do these things or to help me do them so, you guessed it, they don't get done, and I keep noticing them again and again...

Thirdly - and this is the real crunch-point: I don’t want any of this to be my responsibility. I don’t want to have to be the only one who has time or energy to care about dirty socks under my daughter’s bed, or discarded pants on the bathroom floor, or the mouldy food in the car, or the splatters of coffee on the cupboard door next to the dishwasher, or where all the working biros have gone, or the amazing build-up of spiders’ webs in the conservatory... I want someone else to care enough and have time enough to help me: I want there to be a more-grown-up-than-me grown-up in the house so I don't have to be one all the time. I’m tired of being responsible!

Now, will someone please pick up all those toys “someone” seems to have thrown out of their pram? Oh - and tell the butler I’ll take tea in the drawing room...

Well, a girl can dream, can’t she?

I'm linking this up to Sarah Miles' Monday Club - do pop over and see what she and the others have been up to...

Wednesday Window: the garden in June

My garden is a very slow work in progress, but parts of it are beginning to look rather lovely, so if you'll forgive a rather self-indulgent Wednesday Window, we will look out at some of my favourite flowers.

First my climbing rose, a Zepherin Druin, planted last year in honour of the identical rose which has been growing outside the kitchen door of my childhood home for as long as I can remember. It smells heavenly, and is in full bloom at the moment:

Beneath it, the chives are attracting a wonderful array of bees, though the day I took these photos, none would oblige:

Update: I got one!

My peony, planted last year in an attempt to have my own piece of the beauty I found in a rented garden a few years ago. It's nearly out, and I can't wait!

Update: just two days later, it looks like this, and although it looks like there's something dodgy with the colour in this photo, it really does have an extraordinary ultraviolet quality to it.

And finally, lavender. My grandmother had a whole hedge of lavender in her garden, and it's a firm favourite of mine too. Again, it's nearly out...

Here's hoping for more fine weather!

Wednesday Window: Craftivist Collective

There's been quite a revival of old-fashioned crafts lately, with sewing and knitting dusting off their granny-in-slippers image and becoming all cool and trendy. But it can be even more than that... I thought for today's Wednesday Window I'd introduce you to some people I came across recently: the Craftivist Collective.

The term craftivism (activism through craft) was coined relatively recently, but the notion has been around for a while. The Craftivist Collective was formed in 2009 by Sarah Corbett, and was in part inspired by the quiet protests of Chilean women through the creation of complex tapestries, known as arperillas, depicting the brutal conditions of life under the Pinochet regime. Sarah also cites the charity Fine Cell Work, who teach fine needlework to prisoners in the UK, so that they can learn a skill, and with it, regain their dignity. She wrote about her ideas in this blog post, Can craft be used to help change the world?, for the British Museum.

Craftivist Collective's most recent big project, #imapiece involved inviting people worldwide to contribute one or more fabric jigsaw pieces, each individually stitched with a message, to create an art installation to raise awareness of the issues of world hunger and injustice. You can see more about this resulting artwork on the link above, or on the project's Pinterest page.

You can follow @craftivists on Twitter, and if you're moved to join in, there's news of their current projects here. You too can make a noise quietly, and have some fun in the process!

Purple silk, and gorgeous garnets - a Morgan & Pink update

I wrote a little while ago about knotting with silk - an ancient technique that's still very satisfying, and produces a necklace with lovely drape and great strength. It's also great for children's necklaces, since even a breakage should mean the loss of only one or two beads, rather than having the whole lot pinging across the room! At that stage, I was beginning to move beyond using simple fine cream silk with pearls, and now I'd like to share two new designs. The first uses thick pale blue silk, with pale blue and lavender coloured czech fire-polished glass. I'm pleased with the way the thickness of the silk means that the knots become something of a feature in themselves:

The second is a more classic combination of amethyst nuggets and cream glass pearls, but I thought I'd make it more striking by using deep purple silk. Here I've chosen to knot each side of the amethyst, but not between the pearls, which helps accentuate the interesting contrast between the angular stones and the smooth pearls:

In other news I went on a Precious Metal Clay course yesterday and am very excited about using this amazing stuff more in the future. Here are two of the pieces I made during the course - the little flowers will become stud earrings once I've bought some posts to attach:

I've also made a couple of forays into good old-fashioned everyday kind of studs, and I love these garnet cabochons; they're only 4mm in diameter, but they catch the light beautifully:

Some of these pieces will be for sale in my Etsy shop by the end of the week - do get in touch if you'd like to commission something similar.

I'm linking this up to Handmade Harbour's Handmade Monday, so do pop over and see what everyone else has been up to...

Savoury muffins recipe

With a couple of fine sunny weekends under our belt, it seems the time might finally have come to shake the spiders out of the picnic rugs and embrace the possibilities of a suntan. With that in mind, I thought I’d share a couple of recipes that offer an alternative to the humble sandwich at the heart of a satisfying picnic: savoury muffins. I came across the original recipe in the Saturday Times a few weeks ago, and have adapted them a little to suit my tastes. I reckon you could add pretty much anything to the basic recipe; these two are my favourites so far - please share your variations in the comments below.

Courgette, pine nut and chilli muffins
makes 12

275g self-raising flour
1 middle sized courgette, grated
50g parmesan
1 pinch chilli flakes

1 or 2 shallots, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 handful pine nuts, toasted

2 eggs
80g melted butter
175ml milk
2tbsp natural yoghurt
salt & pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C / 170°C fan. Line a standard muffin tray with paper cases.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the courgette and all the dry ingredients.
3. Gently fry the shallots and garlic in olive oil, and when they’re nearly done, chuck the pine nuts into the frying pan as well for the last couple of minutes.
4. In another bowl, beat together the eggs, butter, milk and yoghurt, then add the shallots and pine nuts. Tip the whole lot into the dry mixture and stir until just combined.
5. Spoon into your muffin cases, and bake for about 25 minutes.

These muffins are delicious eaten warm, but will keep in the fridge for several days. They’re also great eaten cold - as part of a picnic, or as a commuter's breakfast on the train - but if you prefer, they can be reheated in the microwave (approx 30 secs on full power should do it).

Feta, bacon and tomato muffins

275g self-raising flour
24 cherry tomatoes, halved
150g feta, cubed
fresh thyme or rosemary (whichever you prefer, or have more of in your garden...)
black pepper

2 or 3 rashers streaky bacon, chopped into little pieces
2 shallots, finely chopped

2 eggs
80g melted butter (unsalted)
175ml milk
2tbsp natural yoghurt

I’ve recommended unsalted butter this time, as the feta and bacon are quite salty in themselves. Use the same technique as before, preparing your shallots and bacon in a frying pan, your dry ingredients in a big bowl, and your wet ingredients in a smaller one. Once the bacon and shallots are ready, combine the whole lot together and spoon into muffin cases. Bake and eat as before.
These are also delicious without the bacon, if you're vegetarian, or forgot to buy bacon...