Me and my twin sister met up with one of our oldest friends, as tradition on Christmas Eve (we’ve known each other since we were 3!!) Obviously, my nephews came too, so we all enjoyed a festive Costa.
I delivered Christmas Eve boxes to my niece and nephews! It is one of my favourite traditions. I love putting these together.
We went out in the evening for our traditional Christmas Eve Lights look out around our town. We all loved the festive Skeletons and this brilliant charity effort.
We got my nephews ready for bed and, more importantly, Santy Claus. We then enjoyed some picky bits (a Christmas Eve Camembert is a must!) We also played a new game. I got a little while ago ‘Scream The Game’, which was a fun little, fast-paced interactive game based on the film.
The we went home & I popped my stocking at the end of my bed and went to sleep.
I’m also a big fan of Christmas Eve as we have lots of fun traditions on that day that make us feel super festive.
I hope you’ve all had a lovely day and enjoyed yourself whatever you have been doing.
We’ve had a great time spending the day with family, that’s what it’s all about. And the Christmas dinner was fantastic.
Until next year, that’s me over and out for Blogmas 2024. I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I have.
Last week, we got the opportunity to have a look around a Christmas light trail. It was at a park nearby and we had a free evening so we thought, why not!
Let’s take a look!
It was a lovely festive evening. All cosy and wrapped up, the lights looked really cool, and they even had some lovely real christmas trees with warm lights, so simple but lovely.
We grabbed a nice hot sausage roll to eat whilst we walked around from the cafe in the park.
I love Christmas lights so much. They are one of my favourite things about Christmas (the more, the better!!)
As a new little tradition that we started last year, we go to the light trail at Colchester Zoo. We go after Christmas so it doesn’t appear in Blogmas, so it’s nice that we’ve gone to one during Blogmas so we can share it.
Every year, for the last few years, at least, I have included a post like this, and simply, it is just a collection of festive photos, of various subject matters that I have taken throughout the festive period.
If you haven’t guessed by now, I’m very fond of this time of year, and I love taking festive snaps to capture christmassy feels or moments.
Let’s take a look at the festive nails that I have done during the Christmas period. I have a little gel lamp at home. I’m not a professional, so it’s just my best, haha.
Let’s take a look!
Set number one, I went for a super festive nail art set. I wanted to try out a few different designs. I used my pinky gel builder as the base. I did a candy cane 🍬 Santa hat 🎅🏻 Christmas lights ✨️ a star 🌟 and as you can see below, a present bow 🎁
The next set was a lot simpler as I had less time when I was doing them. I really like this set, though, because it looks super festive, uses all my new Christmas colours, and is super glittery. Red, gold, and green are my favourite colours.
My final festive set is nice and fresh ready for my friends wedding on Monday and for the big day!!
I went for the pinky gel builder base. I did a candy cane pattern along each tip of my nails. I love the effect of this. I then added some nail art onto some of the nails. I really wanted to try out some more nail art, one last time! And to use some more of my Christmas colours.
I went for a candy cane 🍬 some multi-coloured glittery dots ✨️ and a Christmas tree 🎄 Really happy with how these cane out, especially the tips! It’s just a shame my nails aren’t longer as the tips would have been even more effective.
Have you got festive nails? What designs are your favourite for the festive period?
On Thursday, we had our final Book Club meeting of the year!We all met up at a local restaurant, which is the new location for our Book Club.
We all dressed up in festive attire, and the tablescape looked great and very Christmassy.
As is tradition, I made everyone a little handmade gift. For the last two years, I’ve made Christmas tree decs with the books we read that year in/on them. I thought it would be nice to do something different this year after two years of baubles, so I went for Bookmarks.
Simple, effective, and super handy for book lovers like us.
Our final book was…
‘Happy Bloody Christmas’ by Jo Middleton
I gave this book 🌟🌟.5 stars out of 5.
My take on the book?
‘Festive, funny, farfetched.’
I was an easy read! Perfect for the hectic Christmas period for a bit of light relief and a laugh.
Because we were at the restaurant we all went for the 3 course festive menu, which was yummy!
All in all, it was a fun evening! Lots of good discussion, festive cheer, and good food.
Here’s to another year of reading 📚
Are you part of a Book Club? What’s the best book you’ve read this year?
Now that it is the school holidays and Christmas is just around the corner, it’s time to get in the Christmas mood. If you need a little festive ‘no-bake’ treat, then look no further.
This one’s perfect for a Christmas buffet table or an easy activity to keep the kids occupied.
Let’s take a look:
What do you need?
Milk chocolate – I prefer Cadburys but use your favourite.
White chocolate for the topping
Rice crispies
Christmas Sprinkles
An ice cream scoop
Small cupcake cases/greaseproof paper
How to make them:
Melt the milk chocolate (slow & steady)
Mix in the rice crispys until they are all coated.
Spoon into an ice cream scoop to create the dome shape.
Spoon into either cupcake cases or into greaseproof paper.
Leave to cool in the fridge.
Melt the white chocolate.
Once the chocolate has hardened, take them out of the fridge and drop the white chocolate onto the top of the milk chocolate rice crispy domes.
Let it drip down the sides to resemble the icing on a Christmas pudding.
Decorate the top with sprinkles to look like the holly on top.
Leave in the fridge so that the white chocolate hardens.
Enjoy!
These are super cute, really effective, and best of all, really easy!!! Oh, and REALLY delicious.
I thought I would give you a little update on the Christmas books that I have read so far, during this festive period! I started reading them in November in order to get through more than I usually do. I have a lot on my shelf and I really wanted to get through more of them this year than I have in the past few years. I will also include which book I am gong to be reading next.
Lets take a look!
The first Christmas book that I read was ‘The Christmas Cottage’ by Sarah Morgan. This is her latest Christmas book and as I really enjoyed hers last year I went for this first. They are a little longer than some of my others too, so starting this one in November seemed the better option.
I would give this book 🌟⭐️🌟 stars out of five.
Things I liked about this book were:
Likeable characters
Cute romance
A lovely dog
A twist I didn’t see coming
For our December Book Club book we like to go for a Christmas story. This year we went for ‘Happy Bloody Christmas’ by Jo Middleton.
I would give this book 🌟⭐️🌟stars out of five.
Things I liked about this book were:
Funny
Easy reader
Different to my usual Christmas books
Relatable/realistic characters
A Sarah Morgan Christmas book that I have had on my shelf for at least 4 years is ‘The Christmas Sisters’/ I started this book (albeit the first 48 pages anyway haha) 3 years ago and for some reason I never got around to finishing it. I have been determined the last few years to read it and finish it but haven’t succeeded… until this year! I thoroughly enjoyed it and I am really glad I finally found out what happened to the sisters!!
I would give this book 🌟⭐️🌟stars out of five.
Things I liked about this book were:
It felt very festive
Interesting and different take on a family
Interesting characters
Relatable in terms of how different sisters can be!
Currently I am reading ‘I wish it could be Christmas everyday’; by Milly Johnson. This is another book that I started one year and ran out of time (I’m not a ‘can read festive books all year round’ kinda gal) so it was abandoned. Again, I have been meaning to pick it up again and finish it as I remember really enjoying the characters and being intrigued by the story. I was a bit further along in this book, at least 150 pages but I decided to start again as I knew you were introduced to quite a few characters at the beginning and you learn a lot about them, all stuff I definitely wouldn’t have remembered so the refresh was needed to fully appreciate and enjoy the story.
Things I like about this book…. (So far)
Very intriguing story
Interesting and endearing characters
Well developed characters
Easy reader
So, What is going to be my next read???
Well I have been saving the best until last!! The latest Heidi Swain Christmas book ‘Home for Christmas’
Heidi is one of my all time favourite authors, I have read everything she has written so far and ALWAYS pre order her books (so I have waited very patiently to read this)
I’ve saved it until the end because I want to be able to read it during the Christmas break (from work) in order to fully enjoy the reading experienced. I want to be able to fully immerse myself in her wonderfully festive world of Wynbridge and Wynthorpe Hall. I CAN’T WAIT!! Its like being reacquainted with old friends.
Plus, her books are SUPER festive so they are ideal for reading right before Christmas to add to the festive feels.
I’m also listening to a little Christmas audiobook too. ‘The Christmas Book Hunt’ by Jenny Colgan. I am enjoying this so far, and it’s only a short one of about 3 hrs, so that’s good.
Last night we went to our local theatre to see their Christmas ‘Rock n Roll’ Panto. We have been going every year for like the last 12 years!! It has become some what of a Christmas tradition, and one of our favourites at that! It is also a staple Blogmas feature.
This year the panto was ‘Sleeping Beauty’
We wore our festive jumpers for the occasion and, of course, grabbed a hot choccy and a mince pie before it started.
The Panto had a new cast this year, but they were brilliant! The stage looked really glitzy and cool, and they were all really funny cast.
We really enjoyed the songs in the show too.
I liked how it was a slightly different take on the traditional story of ‘Sleeping Beauty’. I also liked the addition of ‘Milo the dragon’
It’s always a lovely and fun night! You know it’s nearly Christmas when it’s Panto time! It’s lovely to have a nice evening out together, too, as it gets so busy leading up to Christmas.
I’m here with another delicious recipe for you, and this one really is worth your attention. If you are looking for something to really wow your guests but is also super easy to make, then look no further – a Rocky Road Christmas Pudding centrepiece is what you need.
Ingredients:
Dark chocolate 200g
Milk chocolate 100g
White chocolate X1 bar (topping)
Unsalted butter 125g
Small pack of digestives
Mini marshmallows
Golden syrup
Festive sprinkles (topping)
[You can add cherries/Raisins etc but I didn’t on this occasion]
I don’t usually use a specific recipe as I have made Rocky Road how we like it, for many years haha and we like lots of dark chocolate and golden syrup and we don’t add Raisins/Cherries etc.
I crushed up my biscuits, leaving some dust, mostly medium-sized pieces. I then melted my butter and chocolates (dark and milk) and mixed this all together. I then added my golden syrup (measure with your heart) and marshmallows.
I used one of my bowls as my mould, lined with baking parchment that I scrunched up so that it is easy to use.
I packed it in, making sure the bottom was flat, and then I popped it into the fridge to cool.
Whilst it cooled I melted my white chocolate.
Once it was cooled, I carefully spooned the white chocolate on top, allowing it to cascade down the sides to create the icing effect. I then added my sprinkles as the holly (you could use a fake or real sprig if you have one)
Leave this to harden up again in the fridge and voila! You have a very delicious, choc-tastic, and very impressive looking treat for any Christmas table.
It looks so effective when you slice it with all the bits of biscuits and marshallow, adding to the ‘Christmas pudding’ effect.
I took this one to my husbands work Christmas Wreath Making workshop, and it was a hit!
This recipe actually previously won us his works ‘Great British Bake Off’ comp, so why not try our winning bake! Haha.
Let me know if you give this a go and what you think!
We are in to single figures for our Christmas countdown now!! Whoop whoop. One excellent way to get you into the festive spirit is a Christmas market! A few weeks ago, I went to one with my sisters, nephews, and niece.
We started off with some much needed sustenance in the form of hot chocolates and mince pies, both of which were delicious.
We then had a little wander around the Christmas market.
Very festive!
I picked myself and my older sister up a pair of these earrings each. I love them! They are handmade and super colourful.
I had booked my nephews and niece onto their craft afternoon as we went to their Halloween craft event, and it was brilliant. Such great value and only £5 each (per child)
They had a great time, and once again, there were loads for them to do. They could decorate their own little bag to put their creations in, make Christmas cards with a variety of festive resources, Christmas Colouring, DIY fridge magnets and badges, make your own jewellery and garlands as well as design your own wooden tree decorations. It was fab!
We all had a really fun time dressed up in our festive jumpers, and we stayed for the whole 2 hours. The kids were engrossed!
All in all, it was a fun, festive way to spend a Saturday!
Roseanne Byford 