Our feathered friends can struggle to find enough food in the winter months and one of my favourite winter crafts is to make bird feeders. Hang them outside and watch the bids nibble away. This is also a good activity to do with children.
I have made some using pine cones, lard and seeds…yum!
1: You can enter shops, restaurants, workplaces and your own home safe in the knowledge that you will NOT hear any Christmas music. The old songs are the best are they Wizard? Not when you’ve heard them five thousand times and are only approximately a third of the way through your life they’re not.
2: Everything is half price. Yes, most of it is tat and you would be foolish to start buying it all up in a frenzy on the basis that it used to be twice as expensive…but if you need it or really want it (and can afford it ) then I say go for it.
3: You can relax and basically do nothing for a while after all the cramming in of friends/family/colleagues/shopping/baking hits an eerie yet welcome standstill.
4: You can be a penny pinching cheapskate without anybody pressuring you to spend money that you don’t have. Everybody else is cutting back now too after their OTT December ways.
5: It might snow soon. It usually does in January or February and as we all know, snow equals nationwide skiving off work and comedy snowmen/snowpenises everywhere.
6: January is a good month for socialising, pressure free. Your friends are all of a sudden available and quite possibly on a bit of a downer after all of the forced cheer of the previous month. A warning, however: they will probably be skint, as mentioned earlier. The more I read point 6, the more I’m not so sure about it…
7: We have passed the Winter Solstice, so its all longer days and shorter nights from now on.
8: Charity shops are full of shiny new books and other brand new unwanted gifts. I love shopping for books in charity shops as much for the random aspect of what you may find as the 50p-£2.00 price range.
9: If you are creative, you can incorporate your relaxation with some self indulgent crafting. No more gifts or cards or decorations to be finished. Choose a project to make just for you…I am considering making a crocheted ear warmer from this tutorial: Cute Ear Warmer | Creation | Cut Out + Keep.
10: You probably still have lots of chocolates and, if you are very lucky, booze left. If this is the case then you can sit back, relax, watch some crap January telly and scoff your face without even having to go out in the cold to get supplies from the shop. Heaven…
