Category: Life

Blogmas Day Six: My Stocking gift guide 🎁

There are five essentials, in my opinion in order to create the best filled stocking. Each one working well with the others, resulting in a perfectly balanced Christmas stocking of dreams.

Obviously, this is just my opinion but the Christmas stocking is one of my favourite traditions at this time of year and one of my favourite things to shop for.

I will include a few options of items that I found for each category to help you out if you are a bit stuck.

1. Something cosy

Christmas is all about being cosy so this us very important. I always think cosy socks are a winner, those lovely fluffy ones are perfect. If not socks then maybe some gloves or a new wooly hat or scarf or a Christmas T-shirt to wear on Christmas day.

2. Something tasty

I usually opt for chocolate as you can’t go wrong really. Although of course you can taylor this to the person who it is for, picking up their favourite sweet or savoury treat. Chocolate coins or a chocolate santa are also a nice festive options

I love to receive a Terry’s chocolate orange in my stocking.

Some options…

  • Chocolate orange
  • Brussels sprouts shaped chocs
  • Chocolate coins
  • A Chocolate Santa
  • Chocolate reindeer
  • Their favourite sweets

3. Something to do

This could be anything but I think it derives from my childhood of having toys in my stocking haha. We always had something to occupy us until mum and dad got up. This could be a little game, maybe a puzzle, a dvd to watch, a book.

4. Something to pamper them with

This could be a nice shower gel, maybe a festive scented one? Maybe one they wouldn’t buy everyday. If they are a bath bombs fan like me you could include one of those or something simple like a face or hair mask.

5. Something fun

I think it’s always nice to have something silly in your stocking. This is dependant on the person of course but it just adds an element of fun. Last year I got my husband beard lights because he has grown his beard. They were a laugh and just a bit of fun.

I hope you find this handy and enjoy getting your Santa on when creating your stockings. Just have fun with it, you really don’t need to spend alot to make a great stocking

Happy Shopping

Until next time,

Roseanne 🙂

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Blogmas Day Five: Our Christmas eve plans 🎅

Although of course Christmas day is the big day, I love Christmas eve and Boxing day too. Any excuse to stretch out the festivities a bit longer.

We usually spend time with my nephews Noah and Casey and my twin sister on Christmas eve and of course this year my niece Evie is a bit older and can enjoy the fun too.

It’s quite a nice chilled out day but full of fun and food.

I will get some yummy food in for breakfast for me and Tim to enjoy before he has to work.

Then me and my sister’s are going to get together and do something fun with all the kiddies.

When it gets darker we head over to my mum’s and pick her up so that we can carry out our tradition of looking at the Christmas lights around our local area. I love this tradition, it’s one of my favourite festive pastimes and it really gets you into the spirit.

After we’ve looked at the lights we head to Sarah’s for some yummy treats and relaxing in our new Christmas PJs. We don’t do full on Christmas eve boxes for the boys yet as they are still a bit little, but we do all get some new, cosy festive pjs, hot chocolate and a couple of festive activities for the boys to make or colour before bed.

We also have a Christmas film on in the background too, probably ‘The Grinch’ as we all like that.

Once the boys are in bed the adults enjoy our festive feast.

We always just get a few things that we can all share and enjoy together.

This year we are going to get a Camembert, with bread to dip, Nachoes and some pigs in blankets. It’s going to be delicious. I can’t wait!!

What do you like to do on Christmas eve?

Until next time,

Roseanne 🙂

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Blogmas Day Four: A festive day out 🎄🚂

Last weekend me, my husband Tim, twin sister Sarah and her husband Dan and kiddies, Noah & Casey went away for a winter weekend away.

We stayed at Rose Farm in Great Yarmouth, in a lovely little static caravan.

It was lovely and reminded me of our family holidays from years gone by.

One of our activities on the Saturday was a little railway journey and it felt really festive.

There was a little winter chill in the air, just enough to need to wrap up all cosy, which added to the festive feels.

We went on the Bure Railway from Wroxham to Aylesham and it was just lovely. The boys really enjoyed themselves.

To add a little extra festive cheer, there were loads of Christmas decorations.

And when we got to Aylsham there was a Santa’s grotto as well as even more lights.

So festive! 🎄🎁🎅⛄

It was a lovely weekend and it made us all feel really ready to start having lots of festive fun days. Bring on the next Christmas activity.

Until next time,

Roseanne 🙂

21 days to go!
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Blogmas Day Three: Festive Decorations Haul 🎄

I love it when you start to see the Christmas decorations in the shops and now that it is December all the shops are full of the most festive of displays.

Me and my eldest Nephew had a look round one of our local stores (The Range) to see what festive decorations they had to offer, and we weren’t disappointed.

Here’s our little haul 🎄

Hanging decorations

Hanging berry star with gold glitter.

Rustic Heart woodland wreath.

Hanging bell decorations.

Tree decorations

Red glass ‘Merry Christmas’ bauble.

Clip on red and gold glitter birdies.

Rustic bell decoration with foliage.

So festive!

Until next time,

Roseanne 🙂

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Blogmas Day Two: The Christmas Tag 🎅

To start Blogmas off I thought that I would do a Christmas tag. Christmassy questions to get into the seasonal spirit. I love hearing about peoples Christmas traditions, food, favourite songs etc so I thought this would be a bit of fun.

I have chosen these questions from various different lists, and hopefully you guys will find these questions interesting. I’ve split the questions up into categories just to mix it up from last year.

Lets go!

Decorating

Is your Christmas tree real or fake?

Our Christmas tree is fake. Its what I always had growing up and so that’s what we had when we moved into our own home.

How do you decorate your home at Christmas?

Like a grotto! (that isn’t an exaggeration!!) I go all out with a different colour scheme for each room, just to maximise the festiveness.

I also love to have a wreath on the door.

What is your favourite Christmas colour?

I love the traditional Christmas colours of red, gold and green.

What tops your tree?

We have a red star that tops our tree. This came as part of the tree decoration set that my mum bought us when we moved into our own place.

Food

What do you usually have for Christmas dinner?

Tradtionally, my family always had turkey and gammon for our Christmas dinner. We usually have either Turkey or Chicken at my father in laws.

What is your favourite sweet treat at Christmas?

A Terry’s chocolate orange.

What is your favourite Christmas food?

It has to be the Christmas dinner, in its entirety. All those delicious components together to make one amazing meal. Pigs in blankets tho.

What is your Christmas day breakfast?

Although I am a firm believer that chocolate is 100% a legitimate breakfast for Christmas day, as a child my mum always made us have something proper for breakfast, therefore I always make me and Tim something. I usually make something we wouldn’t usually have such as dippy eggs and soldiers (A classic) or Pastries (Pan Au Choclat, Crossaints etc) and fruit juices.

Christmas Day

Do you open any presents on Christmas Eve?

No. We have Christmas eve boxes for the boys but we open all our presents on Christmas day.

Do you wake up early on Christmas day?

Oh yeah! I’m such a child when it comes to this aspect of Christmas. Anything from 6am is fair game to me. You get more Christmas day if you are up earlier haha.

Christmas day attire, Smart or Casual?

When I was younger I used to wear something nice or new to my Nana’s for Christmas lunch. However, as an adult I now choose comfort. I have even been known to wear a Reindeer onesie all day. I do usually opt for a Christmas jumper at the in laws though.

What would be your dream place to visit for the festive season?

I would love to go back to Florida at Christmas. I bet the theme parks look so cool and Disney would be SO magical. America does holidays well.

Christmas traditions

What is your favourite Christmas tradition?

My favourite tradition is driving around our local town together, on Christmas eve, to see the Christmas lights. Its a fun Christmas eve activity and makes you feel really festive and excited for the big day.

Name a Christmas tradition from your childhood.

When we were children and went to my Nana’s for Christmas day we used to have little present bags from my Nana. We would open our main presents from Nana at home in the morning with mum and dad, and then once we had, had Christmas lunch Nana would get out the little bags and we would open those. It spread the presents out a bit and it was a nice little bag of goodies, usually chocolate, socks, Shower gel and so on.

When do you start getting excited about Christmas?

Urm October??!! haha. As soon as Halloween is out of the way its fair game I’d say. Although, from the 24th November on wards I start decorating and that’s when it gets super exciting.

Do you have an advent calendar?

Of Course! I always have a chocolate advent calendar which is usually Cadbury’s. I have previously had different beauty advent calendar’s but I couldn’t decided on which one to get this year (Some are so pricey!!). I’ve also had colouring advent calenders too which are cool and super fun!

Christmas favourites

What is your favourite Christmas Song?

Last Christmas By Wham!

What is your favourite Christmas Film?

I don’t know if I have a favourite but I like ‘Deck the halls’ and ‘Elf’. I also love to tape the ‘Made for TV’ Christmas films haha.

What is your favourite Christmas activity to do?

I love going to the annual Christmas panto in our local town, a bit of Christmas shopping, stopping for a hot chocolate, decorating.

What is your favourite TV to watch at Christmas?

The soaps usually get pretty good at this time of the year, especially Eastenders. I also love watching I’m a celeb which is usually on at the beginning of December. The Doctor Who Christmas special, Harry Potter & the Philosphers Stone.

Until next time,

Roseanne 🙂

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Bonfire night 🎆✨

I love an excuse for a get together and since I met my husband we have started up a little tradition on bonfire night.

We do usually go to a local fireworks display with our friends, as well, but unfortunately we couldn’t make it this year which was a shame!

But as the 4th was a Sunday and we usually head over to my father in laws for dinner, we were able to at least carry out our other bonfire night tradition.

It wasn’t too cold, just enough to warrant wrapping up and making yourself nice and cosy.

We had our traditional jacket potatoes and hot dogs to eat.

We followed that up with hot chocolate and baked apples, both of which were delicious and super warming.

It was so cosy sitting outside by the light of the tea lights and fires.

So yummy.

Inbetween the food we also had some large, gold sparklers to add to the bonfire night feel.

I love the smell of the fires and sparklers in the crisp, fresh evening air.

Gotta love a sparkler! 🎆🎇✨

& we even managed to finish up the festivities just in time for Doctor Who.

A lovely, cosy family evening. Good food & good company.

I hope you enjoyed your bonfire night celebrations!!

Until next time,

Roseanne 🙂

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Autumn OOTD 🍁🍂

🍁 Autumn Outfit of the day 🍂

Autumn is here and it’s time to grab those cosy jeans, comfy knits & a hot chocolate cause it’s about to get chilly!

But, I have to admit, in terms of clothes, Autumn is probably my favourite season. Nothing beats being comfy!

Let’s take a look!

New Look, Jeggings £15 Jumper £9.99

New Look, Earrings £3.99

New Look, Rose Gold Pumps £17.99

I will definatly be grabbing a couple more of these jumpers as they did some lovely Autumnal colours, burnt orange, mustard etc, plus they are so comfy!

The Jeggings are brilliant as they are really super skinny but also very comfortable as they have an elasticated, high waist.

A great and super cosy Autumnal outfit 🎃🍂🍁

Until next time,

Roseanne 🙂

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Staying in a Hobbit hole!

So, last weekend me, my husband Tim, Bestie Roxy & her partner Mike went on an adventure.

We are all fans of LOTR (Lord of the rings) and The Hobbit and when Roxy told me about the Hobbit hole to stay in we knew we had to book it up for the boys.

It was a surprise for them, they had no idea where we were going and what we were doing. So exciting.

We stayed at ‘West Stow Pods’ in their Hobbit Hole. This is in Stowmarket.

We stayed over from Fri-Sun, a perfect weekend stay (although we all agreed we could have happily stayed for longer!!)

It was SO cool, we just kept turning to each other and saying ‘We’re staying in a Hobbit hole!!’ with big smiles on our faces.

The boys both loved it and just kept saying how cool it was (mission accomplished)

It looked so authentic inside and out with the iconic round door, sloping, curved walls, wooden interior, fireplace and so on. The furniture was all wooden too and there were even a few props and stuff which were fun 🤣

There were all the films if you wanted to watch them, all the books and even some board games too.

We did a high ropes activity nearby, whilst we were there, which was good fun.

It had everything you needed for your stay. All we needed to do was shop for a feast, a feast fit for a Hobbit.

It was in its only little area of the forest and had it’s only fenced front garden (which we ate our lunch in, on the Saturday, when the sun came out, bliss) so although you knew there were other pods nearby you could totally emerse yourself in the experience and get lost in the magic of this quaint and unique place.

I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for somewhere a bit different to stay for a weekend and for any LOTR and/or Hobbit fans, it’s a must.

Until next time,

Roseanne 🙂

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Malteaser Millionaires shortbread.

I havn’t done a baking post in a little while and as the Autumn/Winter months draw closer it’s all about cosy comforts, and these are perfect.

Plus, it’s Bake Off season so who doesn’t love a bit of inspired baking.

I used a BBC Good Food recipe as they always work so well. I’ll leave that here

I modified this recipe to create these Malteaser filled beauties.

In addition to the ingredients you’ll need:

  • Malteaser Teaser chocolate bar
  • Malteaser buttons (Large share bag)
  • Malteaser Teaser chocolate spread

Just mix these into the chocolate stated in the recipe, melt them together to make them extra special. Add the Malteaser buttons to the melted chocolate mix too but, keep some as decoration.

These went down a treat at the Macmillan Coffee mornings that I attended.

Happy baking!

Until next time,

Roseanne 🙂

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Holiblog: Florida edition pt 4

FOOD

Of course I had to include food in this little series because,lets be real, if you’ve been to America you’ll know that the food is INSANE and so tasty.

I will include my favourite foods/meals and the best places that we visited to eat too.

My favourite American eatery was by far…. Denny’s!! I loved it.

Denny’s

It was everything I imagined an American diner to be and the food was incredible.

My favourite meal (I had it both times that we visited) was ‘Moons over my Hammy’ A delish breakfast sandwich served with their Hash browns on the side.

Their hash browns are a little different to ours but they are super yummy.

I also loved the Dennys milkshakes, I had the Oreo one the cake batter one too.

The cake batter one was amazing, cake-tastic!

Chuy’s Mexican food

My sister noticed this Mexican restaurant when we were in a taxi on our way back from Wal-Mart. The food was incredible, probably one of the best Mexican meals that I’ve ever had.

You were never going to go hungry as they bring over lovely warm and salty tortilla chips (refilled as soon as the basket is empty) These go perfectly with the guacamole 😍

The meals are insane, typical giant American portions but so flavourful.

I went for a combo, which was great as it was made up of different Mexican meals, perfect if you want to try lots of different dishes or can’t decide what to go for!!

We all really enjoyed this meal.

Enclave Suites

Our hotel served some amazing food.

The breakfast was all inclusive and thanks to Virgin we were upgraded 👍🏻

The hot buffet & continental options were fantastic and they changed each day.

My favourite were the Mickey Mouse waffles 😍 Pancakes & their incredibly crispy bacon, it was to die for (put the pancakes & bacon together and your onto a winner)

I also discovered a love of fruit loops too haha!!

Their lunchtime food was also delicious. They did a lovely BBQ on a Saturday which included the usual burgers and hot dogs, as well as some A-MAZ-ING nachos. All very reasonably priced too.

They did delicious sandwiches, crispy fries, quesadillas, platters to share and more. I loved the sound of everything on the menu tbh, it was always a hard choice so we often got the platters to share, as a group, so we could try a bit of everything.

Universal Studios

Now of course the Harryer areas of Universal were my ultimate fave! But the food was actually pretty good too.

At the two separate parks (Islands of Adventure, Hogsmede & Hogwarts castle and Universal Studios, Diagon Alley) they have eateries based on places from the Harry Potter books.

Me and my twin sister Sarah ate at ‘The Leaky Cauldron’ in Diagon Alley during our Harry Potter day and on our last Universal day we all ate as a group at ‘The Three Broomsticks’ in Hogsmede.

They served traditional British food and the fish and chips were to die for!! I had them both times because they were so good.

The ice cream at Florean Fortescues in Diagon Alley was amazing too. There weren’t that many good ice cream places in the area that we were in so this ice cream was a welcome treat and they did some really interesting and very yummy flavours.

The food was so amazing in America, one of my favourite cuisines.

Definatly one of the holiday highlights.

Until next time,

Roseanne 🙂

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