Words: Emily Cliff

Stressful week? Covid still getting you down? Fear not! Not all bad! It is the most wonderful time of year after all (I know, I’m ashamed of myself for that one). Welcome to week two of Self-Care Sunday! This week we are getting our Jingle Bell Rock on and getting crafty for Christmas. So put down that salad, pick up a mince pie and pour the biggest glass of Baileys your kitchen has to offer, LDN’s Self-Care Sunday has officially declared it the festive season!

For many the festive season this year has come a little earlier, and who can blame them? The stressful times of 2020 have cast a shadow over the joys of Christmas and many want to drag out the joy and festivities for as long as they can. For me, there is no greater joy than the festive period, from my Nanny Pud’s mince pies to me and my sister fighting over the reusable advent calendar to my mum having to evenly distribute the Malteser Celebrations so World War III doesn’t break out. Christmas and its traditions will always hold a special place in many of our hearts. It’s a time to come together, to forget all the past wrongs and to enjoy time together as a family, whether that be your work family or your friend family it is the perfect time to come together to feel loved.

So what can we do for self-care in this festive period? One thing I loved to do when I was little was making Christmas decorations. This was a frequent activity with the GirlGuiding Brownies and Rainbows and it made the festive period fun and creative. I’m sure everyone’s Christmas tree has at least one ornament on it from when they were little. Activities like this are great when it comes to kids and can be enjoyed by everyone equally. One thing I loved to make were the salt dough tree decorations. These were super easy and super fun to make and the recipe only calls for three ingredients: flour, salt and water! By using cookie cutters and stamps to print out a pattern you can make the nicest ornaments that don’t require having to buy fancy modelling clay!

Now this may seem like an episode of ‘Kirstie’s handmade Christmas’ I can assure you this all links into self-care. When discussing baking and the joys it brings in last week’s post we spoke about the relaxing benefits you get from creating something completely from scratch. This applies to making your own Christmas ornaments too. You don’t have to be a master glass maker or a brilliant potter to make a beautiful Christmas ornament. When you make your own Christmas decorations you’re making something sustainable and sentimental. When you put your tree up every year and get your Christmas decorations out of the attic you’re going to look at that little salt dough ornament and remember the time you made it. Christmas decorations come in ranges of appearances, for example, us Cliff family have a Christmas decoration of a fish. And in the words of my Mum, “What on earth has a fish got to do with Christmas?” The point is, it doesn’t have to be shiny, sparkly and expensive to be special, even a fish has a place on a Christmas tree.

Making your own ornaments isn’t the only way to have a good Self-Care Sunday! In good crafty spirits why don’t you have a go at making your own gifts too? If you are a student (like myself) you may find the prices of Lush a little high, so why not make your own bath bombs? The recipe, like the salt dough decorations, is very easy and most things you have lying around your house anyway. So bust out your silicone ice moulds from summer and get creating! And if there are a few left over, who says you can’t enjoy them too?

You don’t have to be a Pinterest Queen to have a good Self-Care Sunday. So put up your Christmas tree a week or two early, light your favourite Yankee Candle and run yourself a bubble bath. This year especially, it’s nice for Christmas to come early so go make that thing you saw on a nifty video, and even if it doesn’t look picture perfect, at least you had fun making it. And here’s to surviving Whamageddon season…

Listen to the Self-Care Sunday #2 playlist here: