Another 10 Ways To Sneakily Celebrate Christmas Early

One of my most popular posts of all time is  my suggestions on 10 ways to sneakily celebrate Christmas now! It seems like it isn’t only me who starts feeling festive the second the Halloween pumpkins come down, or wants to deck the halls as soon as the fireworks have stopped ringing in my ears. Sadly, we’re still surrounded by Scrooges who moan about how
it’s only November, stop singing Mariah, you are not starring in a Hallmark movie where you're about to quit your high powered job and marry a baker in a small town.

Sigh.

As that post is now two years old, I’ve had a little bit longer to come up with EVEN MORE ways to sneak around these holiday Grinches and start feeling the Christmas spirit, like, now. So without further ado…hide this list from your partner/mum/friends, and start rocking around the (at this stage imaginary) Christmas tree!

1. Get a festive drink

Coffee shops of England seem to have figured out that December is a bit late to start the celebrations, releasing their Christmas drinks as early as the 1^st November this year – giving you every excuse to go and get one! My favourite is the Costa Black Forest hot chocolate, which I literally wait for every year. Plus, nobody can say anything – you’re just ordering a totally legit drink off a menu. Bonus points if you sit inside and drink it from a hot mug. Note: mulled wine in a pub completely falls within this category, and if that pub has an open fire, so much the better. (I can always get wine in somewhere).

2.  Read a Christmas-related book

I find I read so much more around Christmas time, curled up with a hot drink and a box of chocs, so really, reading anything – particularly something cosy and comforting, like Harry Potter – makes me happy. But if you want to go all out, download a Christmas-related book onto your Kindle. I recommend A Gingerbread Café Christmas by Rebecca Raisin, which is as gorgeously fuzzy and heartwarming as it sounds. A Kindle is better than a book in this case because nobody can see the cover, so they can’t judge you for reading a Christmas book in November (or, July. What?)

3. Eat Quality Street

Get a massive box of your favourite festive chocolates and tell your friends/loved ones that you just fancied treating them. Then eat them all with a glass of wine in front of Eastenders and pretend it’s a Christmas special.  Don’t do this every day, though, or you might find that by December the gingerbread man leggings you snuck into your drawer are getting a little tight.

4. Wear a not-quite-Christmas jumper

So, okay, if you come in wearing a jumper with a snowman on it, people might give you weird looks – so what you need to go for is a jumper that you know is festive, but other people aren’t quite sure about. Something with a fair isle print or some sparkle is always a good choice. I’ve put some options below that I’ve been eyeing up – I’m definitely snapping up the Miss Selfridge dark green number. Does anything shout ‘Christmas!’ more than dark green sequins?

5. Get Christmas nails

People don’t really notice your nails as much so you can get away with this more (although, maybe the Santa hat ones are going a bit far). The ones above are from Primark and I’ve picked up some more for this year and they look like my nails are wearing little Christmas jumpers and I LOVE them. 

6. Eat a roast dinner and put stuffing and little mini sausages with it

‘What, darling? Oh, no, I just thought we’d have some little extras with dinner tonight. It reminds you of Christmas? Does it really? Ah, well. Pass the bread sauce…’

7. Go Christmas shopping

Preferably on Oxford Street, where the cold, dark nights are contrasted by the sparkly, twinkly Christmas lights and you can walk along the Selfridges windows with their wonderful displays and it’s a bit like getting a hug from Santa. But even if you just get to wander in the Christmas section of your local Asda, buying Christmas candles and decorations ‘in advance,’ it’ll bring a bit of much needed festive cheer into your day!

8. Read festive blog posts

My secret guilty pleasure is that I read all The Londoner’s old Christmas blog posts at work (during lunchtime, okay, if my bosses are stalking me right now) and get excited for Christmas parties in scarlet stilettos and Bailey’s in tall frosty glasses and swirly prom dresses and cosy mornings with presents in brown paper with red ribbons and brand new designer handbags (what - a girl can dream)!

9. Write a Christmas list to Santa

Indulge your childish side and ask for whatever your heart desires – world peace, a puppy, a Cartier ring the size of a rock, or just the bloody YSL lipstick in Lingerie Pink you’ve been asking for every year. I’m going to do a proper Christmas wish list next week and send it to my husband, but I’ve popped a few ideas below, you know – jus to get you started (if you buy any of these for yourselves as an ‘early Christmas present,’ that wasn’t my idea, and you can’t blame me…) 

10. If all else fails…

Stop trying to be subtle. Let your partner or mum or best friend or whoever come home to find you sitting under a tree, drinking hot cocoa and eating a minced pie and a Christmas cake AND a Terry’s Chocolate Orange, playing the Pogues and watching Elf, with tinsel in your hair.

Let me know how that one goes!

Are you feeling festive, and if so do you have a Grinch? Let me know how you’ve learnt to deal with it!