'Happiness can be found in the darkest of places if one remembers to turn on the light'
• O’ • C h r i s t m a s • T r e e •
One of the best parts of Christmas is putting up your tree, so here’s ours!
I love putting up the tree, christmas jumpers on, christmas tunes blaring out… perfect!
I love the traditional red, gold and green of our decorations.
What theme is your tree??
Until Next Time,
Roseanne 🙂
The great thing about Blogmas is I can try out loads of yummy recipes (for research purposes of course, you’re welcome 🤣)
So, yummy recipe no 1 is coming at you today!!
• C h r i s t m a s • T r e e •
• B r o w n i e s •
As always I used a BBC Good Food recipe as they are usually pretty fool proof and delicious.
The link is here .
These came out so well, are super chocolatey (I always add extra chocolate 🤦🏼♀️) & look how cute they are!!
I’m not as great at the finer detail when it comes to decorating things like this but, even I could do this haha! and I love how they turned out.
These would be great for a Christmas buffet table (and yes I am still having one even though there won’t be many of us, because come on 2020 or not… it’s Christmas & who doesnt love a buffet!!)
They would also make great gifts.
Here’s Day Three of my HP advent calender!
Until Next Time,
Roseanne 🙂
• B L O G M A S • 2 0 1 0 •
So, its that time of year again!
Blogmas is here!
If you aren’t familiar with Blogmas, it basically runs for 25 days from the 1st of December – Christmas Day, with a Festive blog post each day.
It’s a bit of festive fun to spread some Christmas cheer 🎅🏻
I hope you enjoy!
• D A Y • O N E •
My Advent Calender
This year I went for the M&S Harry Potter Advent Calendar.
It’s £12 and is a chocolate advent calender with a little quiz too.
The packaging is really pretty with the see through scene in the middle.
It’s themed around Patronuses and has Harry and his Stag patronus on the middle bit.
The little chocolates are all wrapped up with animals that are patronuses. The chocolates are really yummy, milk chocolate filled with caramel.
And today’s Question…
See you tomorrow for another festive post!
24 days until Christmas 🎅🏻🎄
Until Next Time,
Roseanne 🙂
As I have said many times, Autumn/Winter are my favourite seasons!
I know its chilly but hey, its England, we were made for this weather.
Plus, it’s so pretty 😍
Theres nothing like a crisp autumn walk, frosty, leaves crunching under foot, trees fire bright against a pale sky, wrapped up in cosy jumpers, a hot beverage in hand.
Now tell me that isn’t a delight!?!
Here are some of the ways I’ve been enjoying the Autumn so far!
• P U M P K I N • P I C K I N G •
Me, my sister and my nephews had a great time pumpkin picking, at a local patch 🎃
We went early Oct to get the most out of our Pumpkins.
I’ve used them to dot around the lounge to create a cosy, autumn vibe. Some will of course be carved on Halloween.
• A U T U M N • W A L K S •
I definitely have a new appreciation for walks since the lockdowns and the pandemic in general.
Theres alot of enjoyment to be had in the fresh air, amongst the trees and pretty plants. I loved our sunny summer walks but in Autumn it’s an even more beautiful experience.
• C O S Y • R E A D S •
…because I could read anywhere… but, theres nothing better than in my little reading corner, in autumn and winter, because it just feels even more cosy.
• H A L L O W E E N • F U N •
I am a big horror film fan so I enjoy the spookiness of Halloween.
Lockdown no 2 was announced this Halloween (Horror!) So I wanted to make it even more fun, because if you can’t enjoy the little things, (even when stuck at home) during a global pandemic, when can you!?
Over the weekend I ended up watching eight different horror films!
•Nightmare on Elm St (New) •Friday the 13th • Psycho (New) •Anabelle • Freddy Vs Jason •Nightmare Before Christmas •IT (The Original) •Hocus Pocus
We like to carve a pumpkin each year, because its just some harmless seasonal fun, and since I had a few from our picking spree, I carved a few.
As well as the films and pumpkin carving, we also listened to some Halloween tuness (until the X-Files theme freaked me out 🤣😱) we had Spooky, mummy sausages and jacket potatoes for dinner (because why should kids have all the fun) and Halloween Hot chocolates to round off the evening.
And a spot of Halloween Animal Crossing!
It was really good fun and it made us forget about the pandemic a bit, a fun weekend/evening spent together.
• P U M P K I N • C A R V I N G •
Because you have to do one of these every year! Come on now.
… and yes I am indeed wearing a Bat onesie in this picture, my traditional Halloween costume/pumpkin carving outfit! 🦇
Don’t hate me cause you ain’t me!
• A U T U M N • N A T U R E •
• H U N T •
As a fun little pre lockdown 2.0 activity with my nephews, we went on a Nature Hunt.
They love running about in the park and exploring and they enjoyed it even more than I thought they would (so did I!!)
• B A K I N G •
I spent another lovely pre lockdown day with my niece 😊
What’s more cosy (and delicious) than baking!?!
We had a lovely time together ♡
Gotta love a Unicorn Cupcake 🦄🧁
& finally…
• B O N F I R E • N I G H T •
Again, due to Lockdown (thanks Rona!) we won’t be seeing people for a bit, but its timing did coincide with Bonfire Night and so we resurrected a Byford tradition, and got together to celebrate.
Outside, wrapped up, enjoying other peoples fireworks, sparklers, s’mores, soup, jackets, bangers, log burners and catching up!
A great evening! We missed this tradition last year as there was alot going on, so it was great to do it again.
It’s been a little while (probably the Summer hols) since I’ve done a little ‘life’ update and I love capturing memories on here. I think I forget to use my blog this way sometimes when I get carried away sharing about my hobbies.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed writing it!
Stay safe everyone ♡
Until next time,
Roseanne 🙂
ᴄʜɪʟᴅʀᴇɴ’ꜱ ʙᴏᴏᴋꜱ ᴡᴇᴇᴋʟʏ ꜰᴇᴀᴛᴜʀᴇ
Working in education, in a early years setting, means that I am constantly surrounded by Childrens books. I also have two nephews and a niece who I love reading stories too.
I love childrens books and they are a brilliant way to engage, excite and capture a childs brilliant imagination.
So, I thought that each week I would do a ‘Weekly Feature’ of a children’s book, to share with you some of the beautiful books out there.
The first one is coming tomorrow!
Until Next Time,
Roseanne 🙂
2020 has shone a light on the reality of racism, in all its forms.
Sparked by the Black Lives Matter protests, which stemmed from horrific injustices such as George Floyd and Breonna Taylor (to name a few) we are informing and educating ourselves on the wrongs of a nation, (well I hope you are) with regard to black lives and their treatment. People are educating themselves on black heritage and culture… and learning all about black history is such an important part.
‘A genuine change must first come from within the individual, only then can he or she attempt to make a significant contribution to humanity.’
Dalai Lama
This is why educating and informing ourselves is so important and Black History Month is the perfect opportunity.
Black History Month began in 1987, in order to celebrate and bring a focus to the history and contributions that black people have made to the UK.
Black history is almost completely forgotten in most traditional history curriculums.
Here is a link to the Black History Month website: Black History Month
One of my favourite mediums of information is of course print & books.
I have been purchasing some books over lockdown and in the recent weeks. These books were recommended by many people that I follow on my blogs Instagram page.
They touch on the stories and injustices of black people and they are certainly eye opening.
I would particularly recommend ‘Just Mercy’ by Bryan Stevenson, (although this is focussed on the American Justice system it is still such an important read)
Amazon have a great Black History section that offers book suggestions for both adults and children.
These include:
•Black and British: A Forgotten History by David Olusoga •Black British History: New Perspectives, Edited by Hakim Adi •Black Poppies: Britain’s Black Community and the Great War by Stephen Bourne •Black, Listed by Jeffrey Boakye
& for children..
•Bedtime Inspirational Stories – 50 Black Leaders who Made History: Black History Book for Kids by L A Amber. •Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison
•Black Heroes: A Black History Book for Kids: 51 Inspiring People from Ancient Africa to Modern-Day U.S.A by Arlisha Norwood. •Coming to England: An Inspiring True Story Celebrating the Windrush Generation by Baroness Floella Benjamin.
I have also been listening to Podcasts on Spotify, a brilliant resource. There is a Black Lives Matter & Black History Now playlist.
This playlist is brilliant and I’m enjoying the ‘Inspirational Black Life Stories’ And the ‘BLAM UK: Black History Bites.’
I hope that you find this post helpful
Until Next Time,
Roseanne 🙂
Hҽყ ɠυყʂ 👋🏻
I’m here with another recipe and this one is a good’un!
Super easy, super quick & SO delicious.
🄱🄸🅂🄲🄾🄵🄵 🄲🄷🄴🄴🅂🄴🄲🄰🄺🄴
𝔹𝕒𝕤𝕖:
300ɢ ʙɪꜱᴄᴏꜰꜰ ʙɪꜱᴄᴜɪᴛꜱ
150ɢ ʙᴜᴛᴛᴇʀ
𝔽𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕘:
500ɢ ᴄʀᴇᴀᴍ ᴄʜᴇᴇꜱᴇ
100ɢ ɪᴄɪɴɢ ꜱᴜɢᴀʀ
250ɢ ʙɪꜱᴄᴏꜰꜰ ꜱᴘʀᴇᴀᴅ
300ᴍʟ ᴅᴏᴜʙʟᴇ ᴄʀᴇᴀᴍ
𝔻𝕖𝕔𝕠𝕣𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟:
75ɢ ʙɪꜱᴄᴏꜰꜰ ꜱᴘʀᴇᴀᴅ
ʙɪꜱᴄᴏꜰꜰ ʙɪꜱᴄᴜɪᴛꜱ
ℝ𝕖𝕔𝕚𝕡𝕖:
1. ᴄʀᴜꜱʜ ʏᴏᴜʀ 300ɢ ʙɪꜱᴄᴏꜰꜰ ʙɪꜱᴄᴜɪᴛꜱ.
2. ᴍᴇʟᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴜᴛᴛᴇʀ ᴀɴᴅ ᴍɪx ɪɴᴛᴏ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴄʀᴜꜱʜᴇᴅ ʙɪꜱᴄᴜɪᴛꜱ.
3. ᴡʜᴇɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʙɪꜱᴄᴜɪᴛ ɪꜱ ᴀʟʟ ᴄᴏᴀᴛᴇᴅ (ɪᴛ ᴡɪʟʟ ɢᴏ ᴅᴀʀᴋᴇʀ) ᴘᴜꜱʜ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍɪxᴛᴜʀᴇ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴏᴛᴛᴏᴍ ᴏꜰ ʏᴏᴜʀ ꜱᴘʀɪɴɢ ꜰᴏʀᴍ ᴛɪɴ ᴇᴠᴇɴʟʏ.
4. ᴘᴏᴘ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ꜰʀɪᴅɢᴇ ꜰᴏʀ 30 ᴍɪɴꜱ ᴛᴏ ꜱᴇᴛ.
5. ᴘᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʀᴇᴀᴍ ᴄʜᴇᴇꜱᴇ, ɪᴄɪɴɢ ꜱᴜɢᴀʀ, ᴅᴏᴜʙʟᴇ ᴄʀᴇᴀᴍ ᴀɴᴅ ʙɪꜱᴄᴏꜰꜰ ꜱᴘʀᴇᴀᴅ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴀ ʟᴀʀɢᴇ ʙᴏᴡʟ ᴀɴᴅ ᴍɪx ᴛᴏɢᴇᴛʜᴇʀ.
6. ᴛᴀᴋᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʙᴀꜱᴇ ᴏᴜᴛ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ꜰʀɪᴅɢᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ᴘᴏᴘ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴄʀᴇᴀᴍ ᴍɪxᴛᴜʀᴇ ᴏɴᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴀꜱᴇ.
7. ꜱᴍᴏᴏᴛʜ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʀᴇᴀᴍ ᴄʜᴇᴇꜱᴇ ᴍɪxᴛᴜʀᴇ ᴇᴠᴇɴʟʏ.
8. ᴍᴇʟᴛ ᴛʜᴇ 75ɢ ᴏꜰ ʙɪꜱᴄᴏꜰꜰ ꜱᴘʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴀɴᴅ ᴅʀɪᴢᴢʟᴇ ᴏᴠᴇʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛᴏᴘ.
9. ᴅᴇᴄᴏʀᴀᴛᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʙɪꜱᴄᴏꜰꜰ ʙɪꜱᴄᴜɪᴛꜱ.
10. ᴇɴᴊᴏʏ 👍🏻
Until Next Time,
Roseanne 🙂
Hi guys 👋🏻
I hope this finds you well.
I was going to post a Biscoff baking recipe recently but I wasn’t 100% happy with it (it just means I’ll have to make it again 🤪)
So, instead I thought I would share my fail proof Banoffee recipe because it is A-mazing!
Also, it’s super easy, and always a cried pleaser (if you have to share it)
Ｉｎｇｒｅｄｉｅｎｔｓ
¹ ᵖᵃᶜᵏ ᵒᶠ ᵖˡᵃⁱⁿ ᵈⁱᵍᵉˢᵗⁱᵛᵉˢ
ˣ² ᵗⁱⁿˢ ᵒᶠ ᶜᵃʳᵃᵐᵉˡ
ˣ⁴ ᵇᵃⁿᵃⁿᵃˢ
ᴮᵘᵗᵗᵉʳ
⁵⁰⁰ᵐˡ ᴰᵒᵘᵇˡᵉ ᶜʳᵉᵃᵐ
ᴹⁱˡᵏ ᶜʰᵒᶜᵒˡᵃᵗᵉ ᵗᵒ ᵈᵉᶜᵒʳᵃᵗᵉ
𝟏. 𝐌𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝟏𝟎𝟎𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 (𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐟𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐱𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫)
𝟐. 𝐂𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐬
𝟑. 𝐌𝐢𝐱 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐛 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤.
𝟒. 𝐅𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐲, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐨𝐩 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝟑𝟎 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐬.
𝟓. 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦.
𝟔. 𝐂𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐥.
𝟕. 𝐂𝐡𝐨𝐩 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐚 𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫.
𝟖. 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦.
𝟗. 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐤 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞.
𝟏𝟎. 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝟑𝟎 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬, 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲!
Such a delicious, creamy, sweet dessert.
The perfect combo of ingredients.
I made this one for my husband as he prefers this to a Birthday Cake 🎂
Until next time,
Roseanne 🙂
I hope you had a nice weekend, it probably wasn’t the weekend we all planned or thought it would be.
So, we actually have a few traditions that we usually do at Easter but obviously this years a bit different (for now)
But, lets not dwell on what would have/should have been… So, what did we do to make the Easter weekend fun and what traditions did we manage to uphold in lockdown?!
We opted for LOTR Monopoly as we haven’t played it for a while and Monopoly is the Queen of board games, so it’s the perfect choice.
Plus, this one is great as you move the one ring along so you can either play a manageable length game or go the long haul.
We also got together on Good Friday night (on Skype) as we have been since this began, to do our weekly quiz night so that was good to get together that way.
We also made the good old Easter tradition that is chocolate crispy cakes.
We made individual ones using shredded wheat, chocolate and Terry’s choc oranges mini eggs.
The large one was cornflakes, chocolate, cut up Creme eggs & lots of sprinkles.
Delicious!
As a family, on Easter Sunday we usually get together, exchange Easter eggs, do craft with the kids and have a chinese takeaway for dinner (I know, traditional Easter food 😂 but that’s just what we do, my Nana started it!)
It was nice to play games together, just me and Tim, watch some TV and have a few treats. (Well, quite a few treats but it’s one weekend aye!)
Plus, I had a nice video/call from my niece and nephews so that was lovely as I am missing them alot and I love to spoil them on special occasions like this. But, most of all I just love to give them a big hug and have some fun with them!
Let’s hope we’ll all be together again soon!
How did you get through the isolation Easter weekend?
Until next time,
Roseanne 🙂
Let me just start by saying Merry Christmas! I hope you all have the best christmas day with your loved ones. Eat, drink, be merry and care free.
Christmas eve pt 2
The evening
Here is the second half of our Christmas Eve adventures.
Our tradition, and one of my absolute favourites, is our Christmas lights tour of our home town.
We have usual hot spots that we visit each year but I also like to keep an eye out, in the few weeks leading up to Christmas, for any other lights that would be good to drive by.
My twin sister Sarah usually comes but she wasnt able to this time as she was working so my husband drove us, mum, and my two nephews around.
Once we had seen our share of lights we headed back to the boys house and gave them their Christmas eve boxes.
Once they had munched on some chocolate, it was time for Christmas PJs, setting up for Santa C and a festive bedtime story.
I got my two nephews and niece matching Christmas pjs, the same print but the boys were blue and Evie’s were pink.
They were lovely, and only £7 each from Asda.
I got them all a size up so they can have them for next year too.
All ready for Santa! 💙🎅🏻
Once the boys had listened to ‘The Night Before Christmas’ story and gone to sleep we settled down to have our Nachos and watch some Christmas tv.
We watched ‘Father Christmas’ and the Christmas Eve episode of Eastenders ready for tomorrow.
It was nice to chill after a fun but busy day!
& of course when I got home I had to get ready for Santa myself…
That’s it for another year of Blogmas, it goes by quicker every year!!
25 days, 25 festive posts, Done.
🎁🎄 Merry Christmas! 🎄🎁
Ho Ho Ho
Roseanne 🎅🏻
Roseanne Byford 