Christmas kitchens are busy, crowded places, so why not inject a little decoration into them with festive-themed cookware, crockery and other accessories, suggests Jacqueline Wake Young.
If there’s one room that sees more action than all the others over Christmas – it’s the kitchen.
As the heart of the home, it’s where visitors tend to head first to oversee the making of their tea (“Leave the teabag in! That’s enough milk! Just a quarter teaspoon of sugar for me!”).
It’s where everyone gathers during parties, leaving the beautifully-decorated living room abandoned except for an elderly relative trying to watch TV above the hullaballoo and one kid on a Kindle.
It’s the centre of operations for all food-related tasks and goodness knows there are a lot of them, from adding walnuts and satsumas to the fancy bowl that only makes an appearance once a year, to assembling the pyramid of Ferrero Rocher for a laugh.
It’s where the turkey is fretted over, the veggie nut roast is burned, and the Bisto Best is kept secret from guests.
Given that some of us will spend most of late December to January 1 in the kitchen, it’s perfectly understandable that we may want to inject some festive cheer into our surroundings.
As with the fancy bowl that only comes out once a year, that Christmas feeling can come from holly-patterned oven gloves, festive cake tins and a jug with embossed snow scene.
It’s from little things like these that memories are created, and children who otherwise would rather not be given chores to do, will have new-found enthusiasm for setting the table when it involves Christmas-themed salt and pepper pots and penguin napkins.
