Winter Perks and Downers - inc. Christmas bests and worsts.

    I'm all for winter. The cold crisp days biting and nibbling at your fingers and nose, the days getting shorter and darker. I love this time of the year, mainly when you can walk across the grass and hear the cracking and snaps under your feet in the morning. The best thing about this season is walking into a wall of heat as soon as you open the door to your house. I'm one of the 17% who have to suffer without heating in the house until my mother or her partner gets in. My heart goes out to the people who can't/don't have any heating.

   The perks about winter is knowing that Christmas is soon. It may be a little early to be even thinking about it but come on? I just turn into a child whenever I hear all the old Christmas songs playing on the radio and seeing the lights glow in the town. I'm always hoping for a white Christmas, saying this there's about a 6% chance it actually will. I mean it's England. We basically get Rain, Rain, Rain, Cloud, Sun, Rain.

   My life as a child near Christmas consisted of; cooking with mum, putting up the decorations, wrapping the presents my mother would've bought, going with the family to buy the tree and waking up early to eat all the chocolate on the tree. Yes, I was a greedy and occasionally selfish child. 

   Buying the tree was the best and the worst part out of everything. It was one of the worst due to the many repetitive yearly arguments about what tree is too big, too small, too fat, to bald, too odd looking and the definition of perfect. Yes, it matters what every tree may look like in your house. You don't want an odd looking, unfriendly tree sitting in the corner of the room, do you? - if yes, then you may want a lot of fairy lights and some cute small baubles. - The "Perfect tree" in our house is there to make the room have that warm, glowing feeling within the room. The "Perfect tree"(to us) seems like it's meant to make the statement in the room so it can be seen from the window. - I love seeing someones tree in the window. No, I don't go up to peoples windows and spy out the tree, I'm honestly not that weird. However, noticing the tree lit in the window as you are walking down the road just reminds you how beautiful that this season can actually be. 

    On "The Special day" I would say the best part is sitting down to dinner and eating the roast, that my auntie has lovingly created. - We would normally spend the evening around my aunts because she is simply the best cook and it's so much more homely there. - The dinner's always the best. The conversations flowing, the candles twirling around the table, the crackers popping and the terrible joke you hear every year but still manage to make you laugh. Hopefully it will be as magical as it normally is every year.
~ Soph.