Countdown to Christmas – three weeks to go!

How are your Christmas preparations coming? Just three weeks to go, and time to think turkey, trees and sending your annual Christmas card to Great Aunt Bertha!

Every week until Christmas, Nerissa Buckell from online gifts, homewares and accessories website Crimson Tiger is sharing her tips for a stress-free festive season with us. And this week she gives us tips on turkey, trees and last minute posting dates.

How do you like your turkey?

I like cooking, but when it comes to Christmas I don’t want to be stuck in the kitchen while everyone else gets to play with their new toys. So now is a good opportunity to do some extra cooking and recipe research to save time later.

Everyone has traditions that they must have with their Christmas dinner (for my family it is my mother’s parsnip and apple stuffing, mainly because it is divine cold with left overs and mash) but other parts of the dinner can be interchangeable.

The best recipe I have found for cooking my turkey is Phil Vickery’s Perfect Roast Turkey as I don’t have to worry about basting (life is too short to baste a turkey in my opinion!) and it has never come out dry and tasteless.

Another family favourite is Nigella’s beetroot chutney. I make a huge batch of this leading up to Christmas and give out jars as gifts, as it goes so well with the hams, cold turkeys and cheese.

Get your tree up

Time to deck the halls, or in our house time to hide all the damaged paintwork with fluff and glitter!

I used to be so particular about my decorations, to the point I would let the kids decorate the tree, wait till they had all gone to bed and then spend the night readjusting everything they had done. But now I no longer have the time or energy to spend a night re-doing decorations, so embrace the random look.

If you’re looking to change your tree style there are some great alternatives available. Etsy have a great range of wooden trees, or perhaps you fancy one where the tree is printed onto fabric and pin your decorations on. There are also wall stickers that are Christmas trees, great for hallways. For a time-saving option there are artificial trees with the lights already wound round so you just pull out, plug in and you are done.

One word of warning with these though, be careful who puts your Christmas tree away in January. Last year my sister in law was working and came home to find my father in law had taken down her decorations for her and put them away, when thanking him he replied that the tree had been a real pain, especially the unwinding of the lights, it had taken him most of the afternoon. She no longer has a prelit tree!

Post your Christmas cards!

If you haven’t done so already, it’s time to start posting those Christmas cards. Last dates for posting cards within UK are as follows:

  • Tuesday 20 December – 2nd Class and Royal Mail Signed For
  • Wednesday 21 December – 1st Class and Royal Mail Signed For
  • Thursday 22 December – Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed

Looking for Christmas gift inspiration? You’ll find plenty of good ideas at Crimson Tiger.