Author: Roseanne's Blog

I'm Roseanne :) 33. Married to Tim 💗 I'm a Harry Potter fanatic ⚡ and a Bookworm 📚 I started this blog to document our wedding planning and its grown from there!

Blogmas 2024: Day 18 Our traditional Christmas Rock N Roll Panto trip

Hi guys 👋🏻

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.

Have you been to a Panto this year?

ONE WEEK UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!!

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

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Blogmas 2024: Day 17 🎄Christmas Pudding Rocky Road 😋

Hi guys 👋🏻

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!

8 days until Christmas!

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

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Blogmas 2024: Day 16 Christmas Market & craft fun ✨️

Hi guys 👋🏻

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!

Have you been to a Christmas market yet?

9 days to go!!

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

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Blogmas 2024: Day 15 My Work Christmas Meal (no 2)

Hi guys 👋🏻

We are on to the 15th of December, which means there are only 10 days until Christmas!!!! Whattttt. December is flying by.

Last night, I had my second work Christmas meal. We went to Ask Italian (our usual spot) for a yummy dinner together.

I really enjoyed my food – for the main course I went for the Festive Carbonara (which I enjoyed last year)

Fresh egg frilly tagliatelle with smoked pancetta & Brussels
sprouts in a velvety mascarpone & cheese sauce, topped with
crispy prosciutto

Me & my mum shared a couple of sides with our mains.

Bitesize lasagne pieces coated in crispy breadcrumbs, with a spicy tomato dip.

Sweet mustard roasted Brussels sprouts, green beans & pancetta.

For dessert, I had a really yummy sticky toffee coffee pudding.

Toffee sponge with a coffee infused sticky toffee sauce,
with a scoop of salted caramel gelato.

Annoyingly, I forgot to take a photo 🤦🏼‍♀️

And I always like to try one of their nice cocktails 🍸  they do have some yummy sounding ones every time I go!

Buttery toffee sauce shaken with spiced Caribbean rum & milk, with toffee popcorn on the side.

All in all it was a fun evening and I really enjoyed my food.

Have you had your work Christmas do yet? What did you get up to?

10 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!!

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

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Blogmas 2024: Day 14 Christmas Eve boxes

Hi guys 👋🏻

With 10 days until Christmas Eve (WHATTT), I thought I would share with you what I am putting in my nephews and nieces Christmas Eve boxes this year. These things aren’t really expensive and are super easy to get hold of, so if you need some last-minute ideas, look no further.

Let’s get into it…

Personally, I feel like chocolate coins are a must!!

I picked up these big ones from Flying Tiger. The little ones are from Tesco.

I also popped in these yummy marshmallow pops and chocolate pops, too.

I did a theme for the 3 boxes I was doing so that I could keep track of what I had got for who.

All the Santa bits are for one nephew, the Reindeer is for my other nephew, and the snowman stuff is for my niece.

I like to pop something cosy in, so this year, I went for some cosy and cute little Christmas socks.

These were £1.50 from Asda.

I also like to put some fun things in, something they can do. I had to think a little this year as they are all getting a bit older now. I went for a Christmas suprise squishy because they seem to be all the rage. I also went for a little Lego Christmas figure that they can build.

On the theme of ‘something they can do’ I shared out a pack of wooden DIY decorations so they have a few of them to do each. I’ve also included a couple of little ‘Crack the Christmas Code Sheets’ that I printed off because I used to love doing those as a kid so I thought they’d be a bit of fun for them to so.

I always, always have to include a book! No explanation is needed. I picked up this children’s copy of ‘A Christmas Carol’ based on the Charles Dickens novel to pop in there. My niece and youngest nephew still enjoy picture books, so I had to get that in there. I’m sure my oldest nephew will still listen to the story with his brother.

I love this little tradition, and hopefully, I’ve still got a few more years to do it with my nephews and niece. They love it, and it does add a little extra magic to Christmas Eve.

I hope this gave you a bit of inspiration if you needed it!

What would you include in yours?

11 days until Christmas!!!

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

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Blogmas 2024: Day 13 A festive film night

Hi guys 👋🏻

This time of year is perfect for a cosy film night, and there are plenty to choose from, who doesn’t love a Christmas film!

Now, one of my favourite Christmas films of all time is ‘It’s a wonderful life’. Now I know this is a bit of a rogue choice for come people but I think it is a brilliant Christmas film. It’s a classic and if you’ve never seen it watch it, give it a chance because it’s lovely and it had a lovely message. I was always very sceptical, but I am so glad I gave it a chance. I honestly think it’s one of the best films I’ve ever seen.

I introduced my twin sister to it last year, and she also loved it, so we thought we would watch it together one evening last week.

Once we’d had dinner, we settled down with our snacks to enjoy the film!

It’s definitely worth a go! Let me know if you watch it and what you think.

12 days to go!!

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

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Blogmas 2024: Day 12 Homemade Mince Pies 🥧

Hi guys 👋🏻

Here’s another yummy festive recipe for you to try. It’s super quick and super easy. Perfect for a festive snack, party table, or pudding. Mince Pies is an absolute classic.

You’ll need:

  • A jar of mince meat
  • A sheet of shortcrust pastry
  • A circle cutter and a smaller star cutter.
  • Butter to grease the tin
  • One egg for egg wash
  • Any other ingredients you want to use to flavour your mince pies.

I didn’t follow a recipe, but here’s what I did…

  1. Grease the 12 holes in cupcake tin with a small amount of butter, to stop the pastry sticking.
  2. Use the circle cutter to cut out the base of each mince pies. Use the star cutter to cut out a top for each mince pie.
  3. Press one circle into each hole in your baking tin.
  4. Bake the cases in the oven just until they start to turn slightly darker (7ish mins at 200°c)
  5. Spoon a teaspoon of mince meat into each pie case, this is when you can add any other flavourings of your choice. I added a square of dark chocolate and a dollop of caramel. If you want more traditional mince pies, just stick to mince meat on its own.
  6. Top each mince pies with a star, pushing it down a little so that it sticks.
  7. Egg wash the top of each mince pie to ensure it turns that lovely golden brown.
  8. Bake in the oven at 200°c for 10 minutes but keep an eye on them.
  9. Enjoy!

Let me know if you give these a go!

13 days until Christmas!!

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

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Blogmas 2024: Day 11 A festive ‘cinema’ showing with Nephews 🎅🏻🎞🍿

Hi guys 👋🏻

Now, who doesn’t love a good Christmas film! And I was really excited to hear about the new animated one by Richard Curtis!!

I first heard about it because Ed Sheeran has written and sung a song for it, and I knew that alone would make it a hit with my nephews. Plus, Richard Curtis! Come on.

So, last weekend I opened up ‘RoRo’s  Cinema’ for an exclusive festive showing. My nephews love it when I do this, and it’s such a simple, fun, inexpensive activity.

We had special festive snack boxes, and we settled down with our hot chocolates and blankets to enjoy the film.

We all really enjoyed it. I thought it was really sweet and very poignant. Ed Sheerans song made me want to cry, and there were some really lovely, likeable characters. I loved it.

I would 100% recommend going this a watch on Netflix.

Have you seen it yet? What did you think?

14 days to go!! 2 weeks!!

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

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Blogmas 2024: Day 10 🎄 Christmas Wreath Making

Hi guys 👋🏻

Welcome to day 10 of Blogmas!

A few weekends ago me and my husband and I attended a Wreath Making workshop organised by some of his work colleagues, just a fun little Christmassy get together. Tim invited me along, too, because he knew this would be right up my street.

It was really fun, and although I got pricked by Holly several times, I really enjoyed creating my Wreath.

Here’s how it went…

As you can see from the final pictures just above, we went for very different themes. They both came out really well, and we now have two lovely, festive, homemade wreaths to decorate our home. We’ve popped Tim’s on the front foot and mine on the lounge door.

Have you ever made a homemade Wreath?

15 days to go!!

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

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Blogmas 2024: Day 9 New Christmas decs

Hi guys 👋🏻

I hope this finds you well. I have bought us (me) a few extra little decorations this year, so I thought I’d share them with you!

Lets take a look!

These are some cute little string lights, battery-operated, that I found in Aldi.

They are little red and white  Santa’s.

I’ve popped these in our lounge.

I picked up these three from a little Christmas market/shop with my husband and friend. It was quite a fancy place but they did have some quite reasonably priced little decorations. These little ones were only £1.75 each. A great gift or stocking filler.

I went for a big glitter Santa (See below) and two of the little ones, I like their shiny retro vibes. One is a Nutcracker and one is a little red van transporting a Christmas tree.

This Santa is so retro and nostalgic. As children we had a little version of this Santa that used to hang on our family Christmas tree and I LOVED him in all his glittery, festive glory. He eventually became a decoration on mine and my twin sisters little tree that was in our bedroom,. His glitter all came off eventually, he was well loved. This one will help keep his nostalgic, glittery awesomeness alive on our Christmas tree.

He fits our theme of red, gold and green so well too!

I also picked up this little penguin from Aldi, he was too cute and dare I say a little tacky (I love tacky!!), to leave behind!! He has pride of place in the lounge too.

I had to add a bit of extra festiveness to my book corner! I used to have these lights but unfortunately they broke. I love the retro lights and especially the pink ones, they are my favourite. They just look so lovely and nostalgic to me. Colourful Christmases for the win.

I reckon these will end up staying here all year to be honest, I just love fairy fights- especially in my book corner.

Have you bought any new decorations? If so what did you get?

16 days until Christmas!

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

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