Christmas 2017

This blog post is being published on a Friday rather than a Thursday because I got my days mixed up... perils of that very confusing week between Christmas Day and New Year's Day. The latest terrible Nationwide advert calls it Chrimbo Limbo, and I'm inclined to agree with them on this occasion.

After blogging about my pre-Christmas celebrations last week, I thought I'd focus on Christmas itself for this post. It's been a really busy few days but we've had a lovely time celebrating with family, friends and Jessie!

Neil and I had a quiet Christmas Eve together and opened our presents from each other in the evening after our Indian takeaway. Jessie also opened her stocking on Christmas Eve to make sure the excitement was spread over a few days for her too. She was overjoyed about suddenly having lots of new toys to play with, although her exuberance isn't very apparent in this particular photo.

On Christmas Day, we headed over to Neil's parents' house to spend the day with them and Neil's sister. We all opened our presents throughout the morning then went to Miller & Carter in Cardiff city centre for Christmas dinner. We had five courses in total, including this beauty of a turkey dinner, and it was all amazing! I was completely unable to eat for the rest of the day which is unheard of for me.

On Boxing Day, we drove to my parents' house for round two. We had another lovely day with more presents, and a tasty dinner cooked by my brother. The cookery genes clearly passed me by and went straight to him! We stayed overnight as my sister, brother-in-law and nephews were arriving the next day and we wanted to make sure we saw them before we left. We also called in to see Nicola and Osian on our way back to Penarth to finish off our Christmas visiting. Jessie was well and truly played out and slept all the way home!

As always, I had lots of really lovely and thoughtful gifts from family and friends. I painstakingly photographed them all before putting them all away yesterday as I wanted to make sure I included them in this blog post! I might blog about a few presents separately, but I thought I'd give you a bit of a summary in this post.

Gifts I can wear - two Pandora charms and a ring, a new coat, three pairs of pyjamas, three pairs of cosy socks, Cath Kidston bag and purse, two scarves and two shopper bags.  

A girl can never have too many toiletries. 

Gifts for the home, including four new Disney Traditions figurines and five mugs! 

The edible/drinkable gifts. Diet will start in March. 

I can't believe Christmas is over already, but I've still got just over a week off work with lots of exciting plans, so all is not lost. 

What did you get up to over Christmas? Have you blogged about your Christmas presents? Send me your links if so! 

My favourite kind of tag... Christmas tag!

I saw this Christmas tag post on Dee's blog a few weeks ago and thought I'd schedule my own ready for Christmas Eve. I'm pretty excited right now... IT'S NEARLY CHRISTMAS DAY!

I haven't written many Christmassy blog posts this year (where did December disappear to?!) so this post also gave me the opportunity to share some of my favourite festive photos from the last month or so. Enjoy!

What is your favourite Christmas film?

My all-time favourite Christmas film has to be Santa Claus the Movie. It might be ancient and old fashioned but it's the film I watched with my family on Christmas Eve for about 20 years so it brings back lovely memories. However, both Home Alone films, Miracle on 34th Street and Arthur Christmas are also very high up on that list!


Is your Christmas tree real or fake?

It's fake - I've never had a real Christmas tree. We bought a beautiful artificial Christmas tree last year and I'm still in love with it a year on.

What refreshments did you leave out for Santa when he visited you on Christmas Eve all those years ago?

Good question... it's been a while! We left a glass of milk and a mince pie if I remember rightly, along with a carrot for the reindeer. We also used to write a little card, and 'Santa' (my dad) would always leave a note for us to thank us for the card and the refreshments. Funnily enough, we never noticed that the handwriting was suspiciously similar to my dad's!


What tops your Christmas tree?

A silver sparkly star. I've been on a hunt for a nicer tree topper (preferably a Disney one) for a while but all the ones I've found so far have been too heavy for our tree.

Favourite Christmas memory?

Waking up early on Christmas Day when me, my sister and my brother still lived at home. We'd open our stockings together then run downstairs to take a look at what Santa had left under the tree (without opening anything), then we'd run back upstairs to make sure our parents got out of bed immediately to get the rest of the festivities underway!


Was there a present that you asked for but Santa never brought?

I did go through a phase of asking Santa for a magic kit for Christmas. That's one thing I never received! I have no idea why on earth I wanted a magic kit or what a magic kit would even consist of...

What makes Christmas special to you?

Spending time with family and friends, having time off work, cosy nights in with hot chocolate and marshmallows (or mulled wine), buying gifts for my favourite people, enjoying the Christmas decorations, watching Christmas films, and the food. Definitely the food.

What is your favourite Christmas song?

Again, it's difficult to choose just one but 'I wish it could be Christmas every day' always pops into my head whenever I get asked this question.

Without meaning to sound ungrateful, what was your worst Christmas present ever?

I refuse to answer this question. I think it's so ungrateful when people declare that they didn't like a particular present, directly or indirectly. Imagine how hurt the person who gave it to you would be if they heard?! I always put loads of thought into the presents I buy for people, and I assume others do the same, so I definitely hope my gifts never feature as the answer to one of these questions.


Please feel free to post your own Christmas tag if you want to, although I've left this really late so it'll need to be a post-Christmas tag from everyone else! A very merry Christmas to all my readers :)

Twelve posts of Christmas #11 - Christmas food

It won't surprise you to learn that I ate a lot over the festive period. I'm still eating a lot, but let's not dwell on that.

As well as all the usual Christmas snacks which suddenly become irresistible at this time of year, we were lucky enough to have five amazing meals over Christmas and New Year. I obviously have photographic evidence for all five, in preparation for this very blog post.

I'm not going to write a long explanation for these meals... the photos speak for themselves!

Christmas Day - Miller & Carter

Prosecco, hand rolled goat's cheese and walnut roulade, champagne sorbet,
turkey dinner, lemon tart, and a hot chocolate.

Boxing Day - my mother's dinner

Turkey AND chicken, and all the trimmings!

28th December - Neil's beef dinner

That gravy. Those roast potatoes. Those parsnips. YUM. 

New Year's Eve - Mint and Mustard

Taster menu:

Amuse Bouche;

Goan crab cake, water chestnut pattie, angara chicken tikka;

Champagne sorbet;

Guinea fowl kori gassi, mughlai lamb shank, dal panchratan, aloo katliya;

Berry parfait, almond halwa, pistachio kulfi

New Year's Day - my mother in law's dinner

Another beautiful turkey dinner with strawberry sorbet for dessert

Aaaaand I'll be going back to the gym tomorrow. Have you blogged about your Christmas meals? Please send me your links! 

Twelve posts of Christmas #10 - Christmas presents: gifts I can use

Welcome to the final instalment of my mini 'What I got for Christmas' series. I know 'gifts I can use' is a very generic heading, and I'm aware that I can use all the presents featured in my 'gifts I can wear' and 'gifts I can eat/drink' posts, but it's the only title I could think of to encompass all my remaining presents under one heading. I'm not entirely sure why I feel the need to justify my title... let's move on.

The aforementioned generic title means this is the biggest post of the lot, and it contains some humdingers!

A beautiful new jewellery box from my parents. It goes perfectly with
the colour scheme in our bedroom and holds a surprising amount. 

Neil bought me this pretty frame for our bedroom - blog post to follow on the

pretty photos we've chosen for it! Again, perfect for our bedroom colour scheme.

Two Disney Traditions figurines from Neil - Stitch and Thumper. 

Colouring books, colouring pencils and

a lovely notebook from my colleagues.

We had lots of joint presents for the kitchen from my parents in law, including this

Morphy Richards soup maker. I've heard lots of good things about this! 

A fajita warmer for the next time we have a Mexican feast!

My parents in law also bought us some amazing gifts from Denby.

I can't wait to use these!

And I definitely can't wait for our next fish and chip supper...

it'll be extremely instagrammable. 

I had some lovely Body Shop toiletries from Sian and

Neil - Mango, Papaya and Vineyard Peach.

I also had lots of Soap & Glory goodies from my parents in law and from Nicola.

They all smell so good! 

A cute Jack Russell cushion from Neil's auntie. 

An umbrella from my parents in law, cleverly disguised as a stylish wine bottle!

We had loads of DVDs between us from Neil's family and my

family - here are my favourites!

Afternoon tea voucher for Pettigrew Tea Rooms from Sarah and a New Look gift card

from my brother... the New Look gift card has (obviously) already been spent.

I hope you enjoyed my 'What I got for Christmas' posts - please leave your links in the comment box if you've written something similar!

Twelve posts of Christmas #7 - My Christmas party dresses

I can't believe it's already 29th December... why do good times go so quickly? As you'll have read in my Christmas Plans blog post, the last week has been packed full of lovely experiences with family and friends. It's also been packed with an insane amount of food, but that's another story (and another blog post).

I thought I'd focus my seventh post of Christmas on the dresses I've worn this month for various festive occasions. Everyone loves an occasion to wear/buy a new dress, right? Also, after all the aforementioned food, I might not be fitting back into these dresses for a while so it's probably best to make the most of them...

I wore this dress to Neil's work Christmas party at the beginning of December. Although they're not very clear in the picture, the dress is covered with glitzy black sequins and has a pretty lace overlay. The belt brings the dress in nicely at the waist which is the exact shape I like. It's from New Look (just like everything else I ever wear) and I bought it from last year's Christmas party range.

I wore this dress to my own work Christmas party as I wanted a change of colour - I ALWAYS wear black dresses on special occasions. It's lacy, it's a fit and flare shape, it has pretty sleeves... everything I like in a dress! I bought this dress in a New Look discount event before Christmas, and it's now discounted even further.

And lastly, I wore this dress on Christmas Day... another one from New Look. Although I look slightly deranged in this photo and the lighting is a bit odd, I absolutely love this dress. The subtle pleats ensure that it's a very full skirt and the monochrome element makes it look more striking than your average black dress. 

I also love the accessories I wore to all my Christmas occasions - again, all from New Look! The black accessories were bought last year and the silver bag is now out of stock, but you can find the sparkly shoes here. 

What dresses did you wear over the festive period? Let me know if you've blogged about them, I love reading about other people's outfit choices!

Twelve posts of Christmas #5 - Christmas plans!

Just one sleep to go!

I'm so excited about our plans for this Christmas. My Christmasses have always lasted about a week and a half because I'm a festive fiend, but the Christmas period is extended even further now that we're married and visit both sets of families and friends over Christmas.

The fun starts on Christmas Eve... Christmas Eve has always been one of my favourite days of the festive period. This will be the first Christmas Eve I'll have spent away from my parents' house, so Neil and I have lots of plans to make sure it's a special one. We'll open our presents from each other as well as eating festive snacks and watching a cosy film which is yet to be decided. I'd usually watch Santa Claus The Movie on Christmas Eve with my family but I might not subject Neil to that again this year... I think it's essential to have watched the film from a young age to truly appreciate it!

This year, we're spending Christmas Day with Neil's parents and sister. They live around the corner from us so we'll walk over with our many bags of presents early on Christmas morning. I had an idyllic vision of walking to their house on a crisps and frosty Christmas morning, but it looks as if it'll be pouring with rain! We're going out for food in the afternoon at Miller and Carter which I've never done before on Christmas Day, so it'll be a really unique experience. My in-laws also have two dogs and a cat so there'll be lots of extra festive excitement which I won't have experienced before. I'm excited about sharing Christmas Day with my in-laws and sharing in all their Christmas traditions, and I'm also excited about the food (surprise, surprise)!

On Boxing Day, we're travelling to West Wales for a second Christmas Day with my parents and my brother. We'll all open our presents when we arrive, then we'll sit down for Christmas dinner followed by a few films and (most likely) lots of chocolate and mince pies. I don't see my family very often so I can't wait to catch up and slip back into our old Christmas routines. If it's anything like old times, we'll spend the evening playing with / reading / watching the Christmas presents we've had so far!

Most people sleep the day after Christmas Day and Boxing Day, but we'll be continuing the catching up with a visit to my friend's house to exchange Christmas gifts. I'm incredibly excited about the present I've bought for her, and a blog post will probably follow on it. It's THAT good. Neil and I will most likely have a night in after we get back to Penarth, but that might still change... so many people to see!

On the 28th, Neil and I will be having a day in with our very own Christmas dinner and a chance to catch up on all our Christmas presents. I'm hoping to have a colossal lie in and a relaxing day in my pyjamas with our Christmas tree lights. I'm also envisaging eating lots of Pringles, if I'm not sick of them by then. Actually, scrap that... I'll never be sick of Pringles.

The morning after our quiet day in, we'll be driving back to West Wales to see my sister, her husband and my two nephews as they'll be staying at my parents' house for a few days. Cue yet another present exchanging spree... I can't wait to see my nephew's little faces when we give them their presents! Our second day at my parents' house will almost definitely consist of more eating and more films as the two just go so perfectly together.

I'll be seeing more friends the day after, then we'll finish the year with a meal at the Mint and Mustard with Neil's parents and sister on New Year's Eve. I'm not usually a big fan of NYE and don't enjoy spending it out in town with crowds of people, so going out for a nice meal will be a welcome change.

After all that, I think I'll be asleep for most of New Year's Day!

What are your plans over Christmas?