With only a few weeks till Christmas, the child in me is more than ready to come out and play. Last week I attended the first festive event of the season and spent both Thursday and Saturday (there was just too much to take in in one day) perusing the aisles at the Spirit Of Christmas Fair; Olympia was brimming wall to wall with retailers ready and raring to cash in on the busiest time of year.

There’s nothing quite like the smell of orange and cinnamon that hits you as you walk in (a well positioned stand to say the least), the sight of your first Christmas trees and the sounds of your first carols of the season.

(However old I get, I think I’ll still always have this feeling and scrooge to anyone that doesn’t share my excitement with me.)

So, not only was it an enjoyable day but it was also a successful day in the present shopping stakes and I managed to find some great little gems.

With 3 sisters, a mother, granny and two lady dogs (not to mention the rest of the rellies) there’s always more than enough space under the Christmas tree for girly goods and every year (given my line of work) I feel like the pressure is on.

Now I really want to tell you about everything I found at Spirit but with the vague possibility that a family member might be reading this, I am going to have to keep tight lipped. The good news is that if you missed Spirit then most of the lovely retailers are now selling online and we’re adding lots of new ones to the directory in the next couple of weeks.

If like me you’re shopping for females and you didn’t make it to Spirit or prefer the stress free environment of shopping away from the masses (and there are masses at these fairs) then a visit to Carolyn Sheffield , Domakaya , Bown , Johnny’s Sister and Floyd Shoes mightn’t go a miss.

And if you are doing your shopping from the comfort of your chair then just make sure you light a fire and a Christmassy candle, make yourself some mulled wine and put some carols on to put you in the festive mood.