I wasn't going to post this weekend, as I've got tons to do offline and I've rattled on for the best part of the week about Christmas. However, part of my reason for talking so much about my plans, is to let you know of any corking baragins or good ideas I stumble across. We have letters spelling out 'Home' on the mantelpiece, but I really wanted to change it to 'Noel' for the festive season. Some of the letters and words sets are really expensive. The glittery words I make myself are too small for the mantel, so I searched for something suitable. A while back a friend let me know about a site called [The Wooden Letters Company]. As the name suggests, they sell wooden letters. I had a look at the site, and found their Christmas section. One listing was for Paint Your Own NOEL letters, but at the time didn't have a photo (they do now). They were such a reasonable price (one of the best I've seen on the 'net), so I took a chance and placed an order. They arrived today, and I am very pleased. I'm going to paint them cream, and might - or might not - sprinkle a little bit of translucent glitter over them. Buying them unpainted certainly saves an awful lot of money, so if you can do so then I recommend it.
Here is a 'trying them out' photo..
And up close so you can get an idea of the size...
I am really very pleased with them, they are a good size and I love that I can decorate them in the way that I want. No prizes for guessing what I'll be doing over the weekend. I'll show a picture of them once they've been painted.I also treated myself to another new book. Amazon emailed to suggest it, and as I love 'Victoria' magazine, knew I should order it straight away. It's very similar to 'Merry & Bright', in that it's mainly photos of vignettes to inspire. I haven't taken any photos of the pages inside because I've not had a chance to have a good look through it yet.
I found a rather pretty table runner this morning, so snapped it up. I really like the snowflake design on it. 
It feels so good to know that so much has already been done for Christmas, we even pre-ordered our turkey this morning. I feel that by doing most of the hard work early, I can enjoy a stress free build up to Christmas. Outdoor lights will be sorted out next.