For a reason I cannot fathom most people who know me find the fact that I refuse to put my tree up before the 17th of December, the cause of much hilarity.
It is not as though I am trying to scrooge my way out of the festivities, but more that I have my own way of celebrating Christmas and although my rituals aren't set in stone, I really rather like  to do what I do at Christmas time and don't give a flying fig what everybody else thinks of my scrumptiously silly routines!

Ritual, you see, is what Christmas is all about. Christmas is what it is, because the framework and history of family life holds it together and wraps it up in a big, fat bow. Christmas is what it is, because the bits that make us groan are the bits that we (secretly) most look forward to. Christmas is what it is because it is layered with traditions of our own making- traditions we treasure and want our children to treasure too.

As Vintage Housekeepers, it is our job methinks, to adhere to the routines and rituals that our family have come to know as the essence of Christmas, but in the spirit of preventing the kind of festive deja vu that could be any sane womens undoing, I rather think establishing a new ritual or two could make all the difference to making Christmas 2009 the most scrumptious you have ever had...

And so my Darlings, I hereby present a little list of new festive rituals you can pick and mix at whim. Schedule them into your Christmas Countdown Calendar and make them happen!

* Ask your Mum, or any older relative, if she would like to swap one or two of her old decorations for one of her own choosing of yours. You get a little bit of family history hanging on your tree and your Mum  gets to ring the festive changes without expense...

* Place an order with your local florist, for an armful of snowberries to be collected (or, oh bliss! delivered on the day before Christmas Eve). Build as many gifts to YOU into the holiday as you can.

* Hold a Dream Christmas Afternoon with the kids. Put their favorite film on and equip them with cardstock, scissors, glue, Christmas magazines and a pile of toy catalogues. Ask them to create collages of what the happiest Christmas in the world looks like. Join in the chatter by reminiscing about past Christmases and listen out for clues about what really, really matters to them at Christmas Time.

*Arrange for grandparents to take the kids shopping early one morning in the week before Christmas (To buy pocket money sized gifts for you?) andmake it tradition to take your partner out for a deliciously festive breakfast .

* Wrap tiny little gifts for the Christmas Dinner Table intead of crackers which can be expensive, wasteful and messy! Set a tiny budget and either buy for each member of the family or arrange a game of Secret Santa and buy for each other.

* Hold a small drinks soiree on the evening before Christmas Eve. Keep it as simple as possible (mulled wine and mince pies?) and make it open house so that all those liable to drop in with gifts to exchange on Christmas Eve will leave them the night before and you may just be lucky enough to find yourself watching It's A Wonderful Life in peace on Christmas Eve...

  * Scour the internet for a simply darling festive vintage pinny and cross stitch the year onto the pocket. Make it an annual ritual to honour your inner housewife...

* Have the children deliver home-made sugar cookies and cards to your favorite neighbours on Christmas Eve morning.

* The Family Box of Biscuits is a terribly English festive treat but does rather reek of seventies suburbia. Make it your own by lining a vintage tin with greaseproof paper and ribbon, and filling it week on week in the run up to Christmas with small packets of the most exquisite biscuits you can find.

* Make the purchase of new slippers a scrumptiously festive treat for kids and big kids alike by leaving them outside their bedroom door's stuffed with tiny treats on Christmas Eve in honour of the French tradition of leaving out clogs for Pere Noel.

More ideas coming soon!