Christmas 2018

I can't believe it has been nearly a month since Christmas, it just doesn't seem possible! Even though it was a little while ago now, I still wanted to add something on here as we had such a lovely day.

This was the first year that I hosted Christmas, so I was a little apprehensive about getting the dinner right and everyone having a nice time, especially with such a high bar set by my mum's amazing Christmas dinners! The evening before, I got all of the food out and noted down the cooking times and temperatures and made myself a schedule of what needed to go in the oven or on the hob and when. I even added what shelf and tray each item would be on as trays and oven space were scarce so I had to plan it out to make sure it would all fit in. 

I woke up early on Christmas morning and before everyone else woke up, so I took my duvet to the sofa and watched the rugrats go wild movie, which was a favourite from my childhood. Once everyone else was up we opened our presents around the tree. I was very lucky and received a dyson airwrap which I absolutely love and my hair has never looked better. A few other gifts were a lovely notebook, my favourite bubble bath and face mask and a sweet daisy necklace. My mum also put together a lovely wooden tray filled with all sorts of little goodies such as a festive mug, hot chocolate sticks, chocolate orange spread and a lush bath bomb as a Christmas Eve treat, which was so thoughtful.

After opening our presents, I served up breakfast which was croissants, jam, chocolate orange spread, strawberries and fresh orange juice and tea. I think croissants must have been a popular breakfast choice this year as I had to look in several supermarkets to find a pack on Christmas Eve morning before I bought the last one in a Tesco express. Once breakfast was done we all retired to the sofa to watch the television, although there wasn't a great choice this year, so by 11.30 am I started to prep the vegetables so dinner would be ready for 3ish. 

The timing preparation from the evening before paid off and dinner went without a hitch, apart from forgetting the Yorkshire puddings until I was plating up, but luckily I had bought frozen ones (is there a better Yorkshire pudding than an Aunt Bessie one? I don't think so!) so they only took a few minutes to cook and were ready by the time everything else had been served up. I was so pleased (but mostly relieved!) that everything turned out as I hoped and dinner was a success. There were a few leftovers which were plated up and put in the fridge for Boxing Day sandwiches (possibly my favourite meal of the year, as I think I look forward to this even more than the main Christmas dinner!)

We then all settled in to watch more television and although we had planned to go for a walk after dinner, one by one we each felt too tired to go, so we stayed in and relaxed for the evening with a few nibbles and before we knew it the day was over.

Christmas Eve 2018

I'm spending Christmas Eve evening sat on the sofa in festive pyjamas watching a Christmas film and admiring the fairy lights adorning our small-but-perfectly-formed Christmas tree. December has flown by in the blink of an eye.

At the beginning of the month, my boyfriend and I went ice skating at the natural history museum, my favourite place to skate outdoors. It was so much fun and by the end of our session I was skating with a little more confidence...well just about! 

We also made the trek to Columbia Road flower market, with the intention of just browsing to see how much Christmas trees and wreaths were. We walked right through the market without anything catching our eye until we reached the last stand, where the most perfect tree was sat waiting! We got it netted up and my boyfriend heaved it over his shoulder for the long walk through brick lane to the tube station. It took a while and trying to navigate the crowds was a task, but it got back safely and we had an evening of decorating the tree.

The following week we went to Hampton Court Palace for their annual Christmas fayre. The palace is steeped in history with a wide array of sights to see. You can walk around the former Royal apartments, take in centuries-old paintings in the art gallery and take a stroll around the grounds.

Some of the ornate decoration on the ceilings is breath taking.

We grabbed lunch from the fayre in the courtyard (which was a little disappointing as it was not overly festive) however there were singers singing festive songs which was nice to listen to as we ate lunch. In the gardens we found the rest of the Christmas fayre which was more festive and we purchased some decorations for our tree.

Later that week my mum and I went to the Birmingham Christmas market. I like to go every year if possible, but for the last couple of years it hasn't seemed to be as good, it seems to have fewer market stalls and less variety. That said, we still enjoyed our visit and had a nice afternoon.

On Saturday my parents came to stay for Christmas, so I arranged a little festive buffet for dinner and yesterday evening we had a gingerbread decorating competition, which was more competitive than I envisaged haha, but they all turned out so cute and everyone had fun!

We've also had a couple of nice evenings wrapping up gifts whilst watching a festive film and snacking on a tin of chocolate, enjoyed lots of roasted chestnuts, mince pies and a couple of glasses of Buck's Fizz. Later on I'll do a final tidy of the flat, a little preparation for tomorrow's dinner and arrange the presents under the Christmas tree...Merry Christmas!

Wreath making at Seven Dials

Last Thursday evening I took my mum to the Christmas event at Seven Dials, near Covent Garden. We arrived a short while before it officially started so we had a walk around the area.

The cobbled streets looked festive with decorations strung up and Christmas lights waiting to be switched on. 

We stopped for a cup of tea in a cute little ice cream cafe called Udderlicious. They had so many flavours of ice cream that all looked so good, I'd love to go back and try them when it's a little warmer.

Our next stop was the free wreath making workshop. We arrived early to secure our spots and within ten minutes the benches had all filled up. 

We were each given a moss wreath, spool of wire and a selection of foliage.

The florist explained how to attach a piece of foliage at an angle and wrap the wire around the wreath to fix it in place. It was a lot of fun putting together the wreath and arranging it to look just right and half an hour later this was my finished wreath:

After we'd finished making our wreaths we went to the Monmouth Kitchen pop up bar for a complimentary cocktail called a Monmouth Fizz, which was delicious! They even added edible violas as decoration to the glasses which looked so pretty.

We had such a nice time; the atmosphere was festive and fun, with Christmas music playing and all of the local shops getting involved. There was lots to see and do, as well as wreath making there was ice curling and make up demos and most of the shops had 20% off. It was a lovely event to start the festive season with and I would love to go again next year. 

My wreath hung up on the front door!

December London weekend and Brussels Christmas Market trip

I don't know where December has gone, it has passed by so quickly much like the rest of the year. That said, we did have a couple of festive days out and a quick trip to Brussels for the Christmas Markets. 

On the first weekend in December my mum and I went to a local castle that was holding a Christmas fair. We went last year too and the place is decked out with greenery and lights so it looks very pretty. We did a little Christmas shopping but our favourite part is stopping for a mulled wine and mince pies in the cafe - they have the best mince pies! 

The following day my mum and I met my dad in London. Whilst he was working my mum and I did a little Christmas shopping on Kensington high street and we discovered Whole Foods! Whilst we were in there my mum entered a competition at a soup tasting and a few days later received a case of fresh soups! That evening we met my dad and went to pizza express for dinner. I indulged in my favourite dessert, their snowball dough balls. 

The following day I met my boyfriend bright and early at St Pancras for our trip to the Brussels Christmas Markets. We grabbed a coffee and croissant before boarding our train and a couple of hours later we arrived. 

As we arrived at lunch time and it was freezing cold, our first stop was a Belgian frites shop for authentic and tasty frites! Once we were full and warm we were on our way and first stop was a beautiful arcade mainly full of chocolate shops. We spent some time browsing the lovely displays and picking some nice chocolates to take home. 

One of the chocolate shops had a moving 'ski lift' display which was fun.

Next we went to the main square which had beautiful architecture and a lovely Christmas tree which we stopped to take a few pictures by, before picking up a hot chocolate from another chocolate shop to keep us warm. 

After a little more walking we reached the Christmas markets. We browsed the stalls which were mostly clothing or food related and after a while we stopped for gluhwein. We found a stall selling intricate laser cut cards and picked up our Christmas cards. 

The afternoon flew by so after a little more browsing we heading back to catch our train, stopping en route for waffles (we ate a lot that day!).

On our way back we had standard premier tickets as they were only £10 more than standard class, so we had a light dinner on the train and snoozed for much of the journey back.

We arrived back in to St Pancras station around 8pm and had both enjoyed our day in Brussels.

I've heard the Christmas markets in Germany are very good so I would like to visit those too. 

Christmas 2015 and Boxing Day sales

We had a lovely Christmas Day, which started off with opening presents around the tree followed by Buck's Fizz and salmon and cream cheese blinis for breakfast (breaking from tradition of our usual chocolate feast!) 

For Christmas I had some lovely goodies which I will probably post about later and among them were some lush products so I had an indulgent bath after breakfast and used my shooting star bath bomb and christmas edition fun.

We had our big feast early afternoon and, as usual, it was delicious! This was following by Yule log and cheesecake in front of christmas classic Home Alone, I'm not sure how we had room for this but somehow at Christmas I find I can eat on my competitive level, maybe it's because the food is all so yummy! 

We finished off the day with a ruthless game of Monopoly and a film, and in the blink of an eye the day was over.

The next morning I got up bright and early to hit the Boxing Day sales. I spent a little more than I meant to but I did pick up some presents for birthdays coming up next month and I had a couple of gift cards to use up too.

Here's what I picked up:

NEXT

I had a £20 gift card for next and I went fairly early to the sale but this year I wasn't all that inspired by what was on offer. Perhaps it's because we didn't go super early this year as we weren't up for joining the queue before it opened, but the clothes were just a bit boring really and even though we went after the opening time and before the 8am shoppers hit town it was still overcrowded and there were a lot of pushy people which didn't make for a fun experience. 

That said I did find a dress to spend my gift card on, reduced from £26 to £12. It will be great for spring/summer with tan shoes and a satchel.

MARKS & SPENCER

M&S was also a bit uninspiring which was a slight disappointment as I had a gift card to use from switching banks earlier this year. However I did pick up a nice festive bedcover which was reduced from £49 to £25. The print is really sweet (it kind of reminds me of the John Lewis bear & hare christmas advert!) I've been looking for a festive duvet cover for months but couldn't find one that I really liked so I was pretty pleased to find this.

I also bought some pretty notecards as I have almost used up my last box from Accessorize.

BOOTS

I stocked up on my favourite toiletries in the boots sale, picking up an umberto gianini mini hair are set which I thought would be great for on holiday and a couple of sanctuary tins. The small tin contains three mini body washes in different fragrances and a rose shaped body polisher (this was reduced to £4 from £8) and the large one contains a trio of body wash, scrub and moisturiser (this was £7 down from £14). I also bought a new make-up brush set as I like to get a nice new brush set every year and for my mum I bought the floral mugs and the Toni and guy gift set.

I also picked up some cute pieces for the house including a vintage style make-up tidy and a cute set of drawers as well as a Laura Ashley muffin tray.

MONSOON

I had my eye on the Taryn dress since it went on sale and when I saw it in Westfields before Christmas it looked even prettier in real life. It has gorgeous sparkly beading which catches the light and a flattering scallop hem. I bought this online in Monsoon's Christmas preview sale for £84.50 down from £169.

I also bought a delicate beaded chain necklace from accessorize that I had been looking at before Christmas but it doesn't photograph that well and I can't find a photo of it online, but I would recommend a look in there as they have some really pretty jewellery at the moment in their half price sale.

Lastly I had a bit of an unexpected splurge on Mulberry with cash I received for Christmas, but I made my purchases over the phone and they don't appear to have been despatched yet so I will wait to see if they arrive before I post about them!

I am pretty pleased with my Boxing Day haul but other than a couple of birthday presents I need to get now I think it's time for a shopping ban :)

Lush Christmas Preview 2013!

It might be the middle of summer, but I can't be the only one excited about the flurry of Christmas previews popping up online can I?!...

Anyway, yesterday I spotted a picture from the Lush Christmas Preview event posted by the asian beauty blog. The products on offer look better than last year's, when I think I only bought a couple of Christmas Eve Bubble Bars as the novelty of glittery bath bombs which take forever to clean out of your bath has worn off.

However this year sees the introduction of a number of new bath bombs, bubble bars and melts, and rumour has it that a special limited edition Rose Jam shower gel is set to make an appearance too!

I'm glad that the Christmas Eve Bubble Bar is back again, it has a lovely soft jasmine scent and i'm intrigued by the blue shooting star and purple bath bombs. The snowman has been remodeled from previous years and now looks adorable! It's good to see the addition of so many new products, I can't wait to pop into the store when they launch in October and see what smells as good as it looks!

Does anyone else have a Lush Christmas wishlist already or is it just me?!