Category: christmas

Blogmas Day Twenty Four: Christmas Traditions ✨️

Hi guys 👋🏼

Traditions are one of my favourite parts of Christmas and so I thought for my penultimate Blogmas post I would share some of ours.

December

  • Christmas Rock N Roll Panto, this is on every Christmas at our local Theatre. Me and Tim go every December.
  • Mince Pie taste testing, because how else will we know which ones are best?!? It’s a public service really.
  • Put up the Christmas decs, and LOTS of them. Nothing makes you feel more Christmassy!!

Christmas Eve

  • Christmas Eve boxes, for my Nephews and Niece. I make these throughout December and deliver them on Christmas eve for them to enjoy.
  • Making festive treats, usually for our Christmas day dessert. This uwat I made a Lindt Chocolate Cheesecake for Christmas Day and the Platinum Jubilee Lemon and Amaretto trifle for Boxing day (it was a hit in the summer!)
  • A Christmas Byron. Me, my twin sister and our friend Demi go out for lunch or dinner together at Byron. No idea how this started but we’ve done it for at least 5/6 years now.
  • Watching ‘The Snowman’. I always watched this on Christmas eve as a kid so I carry it on now! I usually watch it before I go to bed.
  • Going to look at the Christmas lights. We drive around our local town and have a look at all of the awesome lights people have put up on their houses. This is one of my favourite traditions.

Christmas Day

  • Opening up our stockings first thing. I still have the same sack that I had as a child and I love having that to open first thing, good old Santa 🎅🏻
  • Going to Mum and Dads in the morning. It would be so weird not to!! I’ve only ever either woken up there (literally the same house) or gone there first thing on Christmas morning, my whole life
  • Christmas lunch. THE. BEST. MEAL. OF. THE YEAR. My father in law makes an amazing roast each year too do I can’t wait.
  • Christmas games, one of my absolute favourite parts of Christmas. Having fun together- it doesn’t get better than that. I very luckily married into a family that probably loves games even more than my family do – winner!
Photos from Christmas 2021

Other:

  • A Christmas walk. When we do our Christmas with Tim’s Mum we always go for a lovely wintery walk somewhere. It’s so nice and we always discover so many hidden gems near us that we would probably never visit.

What are your Christmas traditions?

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

IT’S CHRISTMAS DAY TOMORROW!!

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Blogmas Day Twenty Three: My favourite Christmas Books 📚🎄✨️

Hi guys 👋🏼

It’s always a good Christmas when you have a new Heidi Swain to read. They are the most festive, cosy, comforting Christmas fiction and perfect for this time of year.

Whether it be trip to Wynbridge, a stay at Wynthorpe Hall or a visit to Wynters one thing is guaranteed, you’ll have a fun, festive, friendly (sometimes fraught) time with lots of Christmas cheer and brilliant characters.

Reading a Heidi Swain Christmas book is like visiting old friends for Christmas, but from the comfort of your own home!

My favourite one is ‘Mince Pies and Mistletoe at the Christmas Market’ because it is the first Heidi Swain book I ever read.

Let’s take a look at them all…

This is the most recent release, this November, based at Wynthorpe Hall.

‘A Christmas Celebration.’

‘When Paige turns up unannounced at Wynthorpe Hall, she discovers the place she knew when she was growing up has changed beyond all recognition. She’s only planning to stay for a short time, but is quickly pulled into local life.‘

‘Mince Pies and Mistletoe at the Christmas Market.’

‘Ruby has finished with university and is heading home for the holidays to save up for her trip around the world in January. Against her father’s wishes, she takes on a stall at the local market, and sets about making it the best Christmas market stall ever. There’ll be bunting and mistletoe and maybe even a bit of mulled wine.‘

‘Underneath the Christmas Tree’

‘Wynter’s Trees is the home of Christmas. For the people of Wynmouth it’s where they get their family Christmas tree, and where Christmas truly comes to life. But for Liza Wynter, it’s a millstone around her neck. It was her father’s pride and joy but now he’s gone, she can’t have anything to do with it. Until her father’s business partner decides to retire and she must go back to handle the transition to his son Ned.‘

‘The Winter Garden’

‘Freya Fuller is living her dream, working as a live-in gardener on a beautiful Suffolk estate. But when the owner dies, Freya finds herself forced out of her job and her home with nowhere to go. However, with luck on her side, she’s soon moving to Nightingale Square and helping to create a beautiful winter garden that will be open to the public in time for Christmas.’

‘Snowflakes and Cinnamon Swirls at the Winter Wonderland.’

‘After calling off her engagement, Hayley, the Wynthorpe Hall housekeeper, wants nothing more than to return to her no-strings fun-loving self, avoiding any chance of future heartbreak. Little does she know, Wynbridge’s latest arrival is about to throw her plan entirely off course . . .‘

‘Sleigh Rides and Silver Bells at the Christmas Fair.’

‘When Anna takes on the role of companion to the owner of Wynthorpe Hall, on the outskirts of Wynbridge, she has no idea that her life is set to change beyond all recognition.
A confirmed ‘bah humbug’ when it comes to Christmas, Anna is amazed to find herself quickly immersed in the eccentric household, and when youngest son Jamie unexpectedly arrives home it soon becomes obvious that her personal feelings are going all out to compromise her professional persona.‘

‘The Christmas Wish List’

‘After being let go from her job in a swanky hotel just weeks before Christmas, Hattie is feeling lost. Even more so when her high-flying boyfriend announces he’s landed his dream job in Abu Dhabi and asks her to move with him. Luckily, Hattie’s long-time friend Dolly is on hand to help and invites Hattie to spend one last holiday in the small, festive town of Wynbridge, determined to give her a Christmas to remember . . .’

So many brilliant and different festive stories to choose from!There’s something for everyone.

These are great if you need a cosy Christmas read, a gift for someone (or yourself!!) Or a stocking filler, look no further.

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

2 days to go!

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Blogmas Day Twenty Two: More Christmas decorating…❄️

Hi guys 👋🏼

So, I obviously did a post at the beginning of Blogmas showcasing some of our decorations, our tree and some of our tree decorations…well…

… I may have bought some more when I went into town this week!

I thought I would share them with you as they are a different theme to our other more traditional decorations.

In our hallway/entrance room we usually have a sort of winter vibe, but this year I could only find a few bits amongst our decs ( I have no idea what’s happened to the other stuff) so I thought I would add some more stuff to make it a bit better.

One of the things I took inspo from is the escape room we did a few weeks ago… random I know, but they had baubles on the ceiling… and they looked so cool, so I took the idea and fitted it into the winter theme…

I went into Wilko this week and they had a big pack of giant baubles in whites, silvers and light blue… perfect for a winter theme… and half price!

I added white lights which go along the wall. We have had these up before but they go really well with the theme in this room as all the other lights we have are warm lights.

And of course tinsel! Light blue, silver and white.

Also from Wilko I got some hanging snowflake garlands…. these are white and silver and look very nice hanging in the doorway to the lounge.

I also grabbed a little fake Mistletoe hanging decoration as it looked cute 😗 and went well with everything else (white berries & glitter!!)

And my little winter friends to top it all off. They always go perfectly in here, but even more so this year.

❄️ What do you think? ❄️

What is your favourite colour scheme for Christmas?

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

Only 3 days to go!!! Ahhh so close now.

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Blogmas Day Twenty One: Christmas Hampers 🎁

Hi guys 👋🏼

So another nice little DIY Christmas gift I like to out together are Christmas hampers.

Now of course you can theme them however you like, depending on who they are for, but the ones that I usually do are foodie hampers.

Lets have a look!

I like to go for a good mix of different things:

  • Typical seasonal items such as Pannetone, Christmas pudding, mince pies etc
  • New Christmas/festive themed bits that are out that particular year, such as new flavours of crisps, nuts, different cakes.
  • Specific things that you know they like eg a chocolate orange, certain chocolate, fave sweets etc

And I usually do a mixture of both sweet and savoury.

I start picking up bits for these in late November, early December so that when I visit different shops you get a good variety and choice, and you often find different bits depending on where you go.

Most of the stuff that I pick up for these hampers is the sort of thing that has a long life but I am always sure to check as sometimes I get carried away and then remember I need to be careful or the things will be out of date before they’ve received it 😅

I think these hampers make such a nice little gift, with lots of little suprised and interesting bits to look through and taste.

They are one of my favourite bits to out together! I often find it hard to stop once I start buying the bits for them as there are alot of delicious treats out there.

Have you made Hampers before? What sort of hampers do you like?

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

4 days to go!

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Blogmas Day Twenty: Christmas Eve Boxes 📦 ♥️

Hi guys 👋🏼

Every year I make Christmas eve boxes for my two nephews (who are brothers) and my niece. They arrived aged between 5 – 8 so still nice and easy to cater for this year.

So, I thought I would share with you the sorts of things that I have got to put into their boxes this year.

Let’s take a look!

We started off with Colouring/Colour by number/puzzle books…

Followed by some fun Christmas craft activities…

This year I go Christmas Scratch art, Christmas characters and a paint your own Santa ornament.

These ranged from £1 – £2 in Wilko so super affordable.

I also added in some funny little novelty ‘Elf Racers’ for them to play with, as well as some tasty treats including chocolate coins (Classic!) and a hot chocolate bomb.

Finally, I added a Christmassy book to each box…

The Works do 3 books for £5 which is awesome when there are three little ones to buy for haha!

Lots of fun and treats to keep them occupied during Christmas eve and the following days.

And a great way to get into the festive spirit and make Christmas eve special.

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

5 days until Christmas!

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Blogmas Day Nineteen: Winter Photography 📸 ❄️

Hi guys 👋🏼

Winter is one of my favourite seasons and at its frostiest it is the most beautiful.

Here are some photos that my family and friends have allowed me to share, that they have taken, over the course of December.

❄️❄️❄️

📸 Carol Rumsey
📸 Carol Rumsey
📸 Carol Rumsey
📸 Carol Rumsey
📸 Carol Rumsey
📸 Carol Rumsey
📸 Sarah Parker
📸 Sarah Parker
📸 Sarah Parker
📸 Sarah Parker
📸 Steph Wiley
📸 Steph Wiey
📸 Wes Stankiewicz
📸 Demi Abbott
📸 Neil Gillingham
📸 Neil Gillingham
📸 Roseanne Byford
📸 Roseanne Byford
📸 Roseanne Byford
📸 Roseanne Byford
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Blogmas Day Eighteen: Our final book club meeting of 2022 📚

Hi guys 👋🏼

So on Thursday (15th Dec) we had our final book club meeting of 2022.

It was a smaller affair than usual as lots of the usual group were ill 🤒

The four of us carried on and I chaired the meeting on Sarah’s behalf.

Keepin’ it festive 🎄

We enjoyed discussing Novembers book… ‘The Girls Who Disappeared by Claire Douglas’

I thoroughly enjoyed this boom and it is up there with one of my favourites from the year.

It’s a Thriller about Olivia Rutherford and her friends who are involved in a car accident and when she wakes up they have disappeared and are still missing 20 years later.

I really enjoyed the twists, turns and audible gasps that escaped me as the story started to unfold. It was a very enjoyable and easy read and with lovely short chapters it took me just under two days to read.

I would give it ☆☆☆☆☆ out of 5!

‘The Christmas Murder Game’ by Alexandra Benedict has been chosen as our December Christmas read.

It’s not your usual festive fair but I am looking forward to this as its different to all of the ‘domestic fiction’ easy reader, festive books that I have to read over the next few weeks and January.

What festive books are you currently reading ?

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

ONE WEEK UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!

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Blogmas Day Seventeen: The ultimate hot chocolate 🍫

Hi guys 👋🏼

At Christmas time one of my favourite drinks to have is hot chocolate. Me ans my twin sister were visiting London this weekend so we thought we would try out the ultimate hot chocolate that London has to offer.

The cafe is called ‘Italian Bear Chocolate’ and they are a chocolate lovers heaven.

You cam choose your flavour of hot chocolate from milk, white or dark. We both went for milk chocolate. We also both went for a small (which was more than enough!!) As we wanted to try the chocolate cake.

We added ‘triple chocolate’ to both our hot chocolate and the cake, which is the drizzle you can see cascading down the side of the mug and the cake.

It was so rich, thick and decadent. It starts off like normal hot chocolate but definitely gets thicker as you get to the end. The triple chocolate drizzle is amazing too. You can taste to good quality of each type of chocolate.

This is the cake that we got to share. This was decadence with a capital D. We had to take at least half home with us. The chocolate ganache and fudgey filling were amazing.

It was so good.

What’s your favourite festive beverage?

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

8 days until Christmas

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Blogmas Day Fifteen: A christmas booklover diy gift 📚

Hi guys 👋🏼

So this week we are having our last Book Club meeting before Christmas and the New Year, and I saw a really cute idea online that I thought was perfect to make everyone.

They are book baubles!

So I bought some clear baubles on Amazon, I then set about printing, cutting (lots of cutting) and laminating the tiny pictures of all of the books that we have read at Book Club this year.

I did them double sided so that they looked good inside the bauble from all angles. This did take a little while but I made them in an evening so it isn’t as time consuming as it looks.

These would make a great present for a book lover friend. If you know what they have read this year or maybe just make one with their favourite books in.

They are relatively easy and super effective.

I finished them off by writing ‘2022’ in a silver pen and adding a red ribbon to hang them up.

I know not everyone has a laminater but they looked really effective this way and I was really pleased with the finish.

I can’t wait to pop mine on my tree – what a great year for book club books it has been.

What have you read this year?

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

10 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!!

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