What books did I get for Christmas?

Hi guys πŸ‘‹πŸΌ

I hope you all had a lovely, book filled, reading relaxation filled Christmas.

I thought I would do a blog post on my new books, that I received for Christmas. There’s quite a variety of genres so I have some cool new additions to my bookcase.

Let’s take a look!

The Perfect Lie by Jo Spain.

‘He jumped to his death in front of witnesses. Now his wife is charged with murder.

Five years ago, Erin Kennedy moved to New York following a family tragedy. She now lives happily with her detective husband in the scenic seaside town of Newport, Long Island. When Erin answers the door to Danny’s police colleagues one morning, it’s the start of an ordinary day. But behind her, Danny walks to the window of their fourth-floor apartment and jumps to his death.

Eighteen months later, Erin is in court, charged with her husband’s murder. Over that year and a half, Erin has learned things about Danny she could never have imagined. She thought he was perfect. She thought their life was perfect.

But it was all built on the perfect lie.

Christmas at the Little Waffle Shack by Helen Rolfe

‘Heritage Cove is in full swing for the festive season and as the temperature dips, who will be lucky in love this Christmas?

It’s December in Heritage Cove and along with the village Christmas tree, frosty mornings and the promise of the most wonderful time of the year, the new waffle shack is about to open. And its owner isn’t a stranger to the Cove, because after all this time, Daniel is back to make amends with his brother Harvey – as well as a few other locals he might have offended along the way.

Fairly new to the village, local blacksmith Lucy has kept up the pretence of being with her ex for the sake of his gran but she’s fed up with all the lies. Determined to come clean and live the life she wants to live, she’s devastated to find that her attraction to Daniel is tainted by the fact he’s hiding a few things of his own. And his secrets are ones she isn’t sure she’ll ever be able to get past.

Heritage Cove is full of friendship and community; it’s a welcoming place people visit and never want to leave. But will it work its magic for Daniel and Lucy?

Beyond the Wand by Tom Felton.

This is Tom Feltons Autobiography. He played Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter series. I am really looking forward to reading this.

Fantastic Beasts and where to find them by JK Rowling.

This is the Original Screenplay of ‘Fantastic Beasts and where to find them’. This is the script of the film. A great addition to my collection.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling.

As the Order of the Phoenix keeps watch over Harry Potter, troubled times have come to Hogwarts in a year filled with secrets, subterfuge and suspicion. The deliciously dark fifth instalment of Jim Kay’s inspired reimagining of J.K. Rowling’s classic series is an epic artistic achievement, featuring over 160 illustrations in an astonishing range of visual styles.

A lovely haul.

I also got a voucher that I can use to buy more books! 😁


What books did you get this year, for Christmas?

Until Next Time,

Roseanne πŸ™‚

Harry Potter Christmas Presents πŸŽβš‘️

Hi guys πŸ‘‹πŸΌ

Being the self professed Harry Potter fan that I am, I thought I would share with you guys the Harry Potter inspired gifts that I got for Christmas.

So, lets take a look!

I got three books this year. I got the illustrated version of the fifth Harry Potter book ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’. I have the others so this is a great (and a very beautiful) addition to the collection.

I also got a copy of ‘Fantastic Beasts and where to find them’ the original screenplay and the Autobiography of Tom Felton who played Draco Malfoy in the series, its called ‘Beyond the wand.’ I’m really looking forward to reading it.


I got a Harry Potter Lego set – this one is from the Chamber of Secrets film. This scene is when they are brewing the polyjuice potion and Hermione turns into a cat. This has some cool features like the changing characters and the limited edition 20th Anniversary gold Harry Potter minifigure.


I also got this ‘DIY Knight Bus Doorstop Kit’ I have no idea how I am going to make this haha but I will give it a go. I have a friend who is really good at knitting things so I may have to ask her for help.


I got this cute soup bowl from my Mum and Dad. It’s a lovely dark, midnight blue colour and is in the shape of a cauldron!


One of my friends got me this Harry Potter puzzle. The design is really nice and it incorporates all of the films, which is really cool.


I also got this really cool sock & mug set πŸ˜ƒ


The final thing I got was this cosy Harry Potter throw. I can’t wait to snuggle up with this.


Great gifts, I’m very lucky!

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas.

Until Next Time,

Roseanne πŸ™‚

Blogmas Day Twenty Five: IT’S CHRISTMASSSSS πŸŽ

Hi guys πŸ‘‹πŸΌ

So it’s finally here – Christmas Day!!

I hope you have a lovely day whatever you do.

I saw this idea online, so here is my ‘ideal Christmas day’

My ideal Christmas Day ❀️

6.00am – Open Stocking

8am Onwards – Get ready, prepare the breakfast pastrys

9am – Open Presents together at our home

10am onwards – Go and visit my Mum and Dad

11.30 onwards – Christmas Lunch at my father in laws

1pm – Christmas Dinner

2pm Onwards – Presents and relaxing

3pm – Kings Speech

4/5pm onwards – Games/Snacks/Cheeseboard

6pm – Seeing more of my Family in the evening, more present opening.

7pm – Buffet Tea

8pm – More Games and Christmas TV.

I hope you enjoyed your Christmas Day.

That’s it for Blogmas 2022! Thanks for all the support, likes and shares of my posts.

And to those who find it difficult at this time of year – I am thinking of you too and hoping that 2024 brings you health and happiness.

Until Next Time,

Roseanne πŸ™‚

Blogmas Day Twenty Two: More Christmas decorating…❄️

Hi guys πŸ‘‹πŸΌ

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 πŸ˜— 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 πŸ™‚

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

Blogmas Day Twenty One: Christmas Hampers πŸŽ

Hi guys πŸ‘‹πŸΌ

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 πŸ˜…


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 πŸ™‚

4 days to go!

Blogmas Day Twenty: Christmas Eve Boxes πŸ“¦ β™₯️

Hi guys πŸ‘‹πŸΌ

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 Β£1 – Β£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 Β£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 πŸ™‚

5 days until Christmas!

Blogmas Day Nineteen: Winter Photography πŸ“Έ β„️

Hi guys πŸ‘‹πŸΌ

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.

❄️❄️❄️

πŸ“Έ Carol Rumsey
πŸ“Έ Carol Rumsey
πŸ“Έ Carol Rumsey
πŸ“Έ Carol Rumsey
πŸ“Έ Carol Rumsey
πŸ“Έ Carol Rumsey
πŸ“Έ Sarah Parker
πŸ“Έ Sarah Parker
πŸ“Έ Sarah Parker
πŸ“Έ Sarah Parker
πŸ“Έ Steph Wiley
πŸ“Έ Steph Wiey
πŸ“Έ Wes Stankiewicz
πŸ“Έ Demi Abbott
πŸ“Έ Neil Gillingham
πŸ“Έ Neil Gillingham
πŸ“Έ Roseanne Byford
πŸ“Έ Roseanne Byford
πŸ“Έ Roseanne Byford
πŸ“Έ Roseanne Byford

Blogmas Day Eighteen: Our final book club meeting of 2022 πŸ“š

Hi guys πŸ‘‹πŸΌ

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 πŸ€’

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

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 β˜†β˜†β˜†β˜†β˜† 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 πŸ™‚

ONE WEEK UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!

Blogmas Day Fourteen: A Christmas Escape Room πŸ”πŸ¦Œ

Hi guys πŸ‘‹πŸΌ

So at the weekend me, my husband, my twin sister, bestfriend and her husband did a little Christmas get together. We thought that this would be a nice idea instead of a gift, as it can often be hard to find time to all meet up together.

We started off by meeting for dinner at our local Wagamamas, which was delicious.

Me and my husband Tim both had the same.

We then moved on to our local Cosy Club for a drink and dessert.

After a good catch up it was finally time for our Escape Room slot.

The Escape room we chose to do was at a new franchise that has recently opened up, and to make things even better they did a Christmas themed one.

We knew we had to give that one a go. It’s called ‘Runaway Rudolph’ our mission: Find Rudolph and save Christmas!!

Team Cinnamon & Misery – Assemble!

The room was brilliant and super festive, as was our host.

We really enjoyed ourselves and I particularly liked that if you needed a hint you had to do a funny Elf task like sing ‘Jingle Bells’ which was hilarious.

We had a great time and we ESCAPED!!!

Our time was 50.02 – you get one hour to complete it so we had plenty of time left.

Escape rooms are really fun and I especially enjoyed this festive edition.


Have you done an Escape Room before?

Until Next Time,

Roseanne πŸ™‚

11 days until Christmas!

Blogmas Day Twelve: Stocking Fillers βœ¨οΈ

Hi guys πŸ‘‹πŸΌ

Stockings are one of my favourite parts of Christmas and it has been since I was a child.

I also think they are one of the most fun things to shop for too *to help Santa out obviously!

Let’s take a look at some Stocking filler ideas.

Instead of including specific information I have just included different options, in different categories, that you can pick up from wherever you like to shop.

[& don’t forget to shop local and support small buisnesses]


Games


Edible Treats


Books


Handmade Gifts


Bath Bombs


What is your go to stocking filler?

Until Next Time,

Roseanne πŸ™‚

13 days until Christmas!