It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Gosh. It's been a while.

Right. Straight into it.

I purchased a lovely butcher's trolley...or block...whichever you prefer, from Seymour Interiors in Wirksworth a few weeks back.  I'd been looking for a while but not found one quite big enough or solid enough. As if by magic, this one popped up on their website and the rest is history! I convinced myself that I needed more work surface. I possibly didn't, but have to say that I am really pleased with it and it is really useful as I can move it around, obviously! It's a great, chunky piece of furniture that matches really well with my existing kitchen.

When bought, it was unpainted and as soon as I got it home I set about giving it a make-over. It is currently painted Farrow's Cream which matches the rest of the kitchen, however, having lived with it for a week or two, I am now seriously tempted to spice it up a bit by painting it in Pelt, a rich, aubergine colour by Farrow and Ball.

With only one child in the house today...and that one being male....I decided to begin 'Christmassing' the house. I figured that decorating the tree would interest my little boy for about one minute once he had got over the excitement of watching the man saw the end off the tree and use his special machine to shrink wrap it for us! Unfortunately, his designer juices started flowing once it was in the house and he took great delight in tangling the lights and breaking the odd bauble before hanging most of the others on one side of the tree! Never mind. We got there in the end!

I've also, for the past couple of years, got a bit (only a bit..) creative and cut a branch down from my parents orchard, sprayed it silver and dangled a small selection of old fashioned, jewel coloured baubles from it and a sprinkling of lights. It's anchored to a block of wood, covered in Christmas wrapping paper. Really simple, yet I might actually prefer it to the proper tree. Where space might be an issue, or if you fancy something a little different, it's worth having a go. I looked at similar things on sale in the likes of John Lewis and they cost an absolute fortune! Baubles and lights aside, this one cost the price of a can of spray paint from Homebase.

I love Christmas. I'm so excited! My husband is dreading the moment I reach for the free CD of Christmas songs sung by Frank Sinatra that we got in the weekend paper! Me? I can't get to it soon enough!