March has almost left us for another year and April is rolling in.  What am I thinking about? Christmas presents. Don’t judge me, hear me out first.

My BFF, Sally Holtham, came up with an idea this year, as we seem to have Christmas presents coming out of our ears from each other (not that I mind), this year should be a little different.  Using the word CHRISTMAS, each letter represents a Christmas present for each other.  This is still nine presents each but it’s a little bit better than the 20+ that we tend to buy for each other.

I can’t help it, I like to spoil people, especially at Christmas.

So with the word, we have decided on different categories.  We will have the same categories, but what we decide to do with those is completely our choice.

So here goes, what we have come up with.  I wont give away too much as I know she will be prying to see if I slip up and tell a secret.

C = Cats
We are both crazy cat ladies, so this pretty much is already in the bag.

H = Homemade
For those of you who know me, this will be a challenge for me all on it’s own.  I write.  I inspire people (or so I am told). Ok, I do bake, but so does she.  I also work extremely long hours in my day job, which is another reason for starting to prepare things now.  I do however, have come up with a few ideas which I will try my hand at.  Will attempt a few practice runs first.  Watch this space!

R = Romantic
No, no romantic gestures to each other.  We are both hopeless romantics.  We love a good romance film or to dive right into a romance novel.  The choice is wide open and something I am looking forward to indulging in a bit more.

I = Inspirational
Funny how I am meant to inspire others, but when it comes to something like this, I am left with a great blank page.  Please feel free to drop me some advice that I may be able to use with this one.

S = Sweets
So this is the first of the S’s in the word Christmas.  Considering we are both complete chocoholics, it is obvious that chocolate sweets will be there somewhere.  You cannot have Christmas with something sweet to nibble on, especially if you are watching a romance film ;o)

T = Travel
OK. I came up with this idea.  Why? I do not know.  Shoot me now!  This one was always going to be a little more challenging.  Again, I am open to suggestions on this one.  I sort of have a slight idea, whirling around in the mist of my mind, but it is the planning it out that may take tome time.

M = Memorable
This believe it or not, is already in the bag.  And to make it even more memorable it is definitely something that we can both do together, so yes, I had to get myself the same thing so some of the memories we can do together.

A = Assortment
I know.  Not very imaginative, but we both have an Amazon wishlist, so with this one, we can choose something that we both know each other wants.  We were both struggling with the A of this word, but were both pleased with the final answer.

S = Stationery
This was the obvious answer.  We both have an addiction to notebooks and pens of sort.  There was no way we could have Christmas without new stationery, and that leaves it wide open for the both of us.

So there you have it.  This is our Christmas challenge to each other and believe it or not, even the planning is a lot of fun.  Just over eight months until the big day, which we will have our Christmas on 29th November in York.  We will have a lovely lunch and we will be allowed to open only one of the presents.  We may have to actually start with the first letter C.

Come back after Christmas 2017 and I will show you what I got from Sally.