So, here it is! The final instalment of my 2020 reading challenge, and the final quarter…
October, November, December
Let’s have a look at what I have read during this quarter…
Books I’ve read:
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig.
Where the Crawdads sing by Delia Owen
The Kindness Club at Mapleberry Lane: A Summer Suprise by Helen Rolfe
The Kindness Club at Mapleberry Lane: An Autumn Promise by Helen Rolfe
Coming home to Glendale Hall by Victoria Walters
New beginnings at Glendale Hall by Victoria Walters
Hopeful hearts at Glendale Hall by Victoria Walters
The Christmas Killer by Alex Pine
The Midnight Library is one of my favourite books that I have read this year. Its fantastic and I have recommended it to so many people already.
It’s so thought provoking and interesting, but gripping too.
I can’t recommend it enough
Alot of these were a similar type of book this quarter, easy readers. These are some of my favourite types of books, cosy, romantic, lovely and easy to pick up and get through, so I was super pleased to discover the Glendale series in particular.
I didn’t get through as many of my festive reads as I would have liked but I have one more on the cards for January, I recieved it as a gift for Christmas, from my sister.
It’s called ‘Finding Love at the Christmas Market’ by Jo thomas.
I haven’t quite decided how my reading challenge will take shape this year yet… maybe I will continue with the quarterly updates or I may go back to a monthly update, either way, keep your eyes peeled for that!
For the final day of Blogmas I thought I would share some of the Christmas fun we’ve been up to on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!
Christmas Eve
Me and my sister continued our tradition of meeting up for a burger with our friend.
Obviously being 2020 we had to get it takeaway and outside 😷
So we incorporated a walk around the park and it was really nice (except the rain shower!!)
I had the Caffe Nero Mint Hot Choc finally, and it was so delicious and festive too
We also have a tradition of going around our local town to look at the christmad lights.
We keep an eye out in the weeks leading up to Christmas eve and there are a few that are always good too.
There were some brilliant lights on display this year.
Keepin’ it COVID secure by going in our separate cars and we just chatted over a voice call, worked pretty well 🤣
Left my Stocking out for Santa, obv!
Christmas Day
Me and Tim started the day with a delicious and festive nutella pastry Christmas tree & a cuppa!
Followed by present opening 🎁
My father in law provided a lovely Christmas lunch for us, we had my brother in law on Zoom, at the dinner table with us… very 2020!
We enjoyed a bit of a relax and a TV break before another family Zoom with a game of birds names.
We had the standard Christmas day buffet in the eve with the other half of our bubble, my twin sister, brother in law and nephews.
We had fun opening presents, had a bit of a dance and enjoyed some yummy food.
It’s been a strange one in the sense that we are all (hopefully) being more cautious than usual this year, but it has been fun to be able to keep some traditions alive and to get together, where possible, to celebrate
I really hope that you’ve all enjoyed your day 🎅🏻
Tier Four tomorrow! But we still have Boxing day Skype fun planned with a Christmas themed family quiz.
Stay safe and thankyou so much for joining me again for another fun, festive and unforgettable Blogmas.
Especially because I feel like I haven’t done enough of these this Blogmas!
I do have another recipe up my sleeve, that I am hoping to make for our Christmas day dessert, so keep your eyes peeled for that one too 👀
Chocolate Orange is one of my absolute favourite flavours ever, but I also think its quite festive too.
I used a ‘Tasty’ recipe this time which I will leave a link for here
I obviously adapted it to make them Chocolate Orange flavoured.
I added some cocoa powder to make the cookie batter chocolatey, a little orange extract instead of vanilla and I used chopped up Chocolate Orange segments, instead of choc chips.
These don’t take long to make, honestly the longest part is refrigerating the mixture for a minimum of 30 mins before baking. They only take 15 mins in the oven.
This is how they turned out. The chocolate orange pieces were all gooey 😍
I hope everyone is doing ok here, in the UK, after the Corona announcements yesterday.
But, let’s try and enjoy what festivity we can, safely.
& one of the things we’ve still been able to enjoy is one of mine and my husbands favourite traditions…
The Christmas Panto!
This years panto, which we would usually watch at our local theatre, was offered as a live stream.
As you can see, this year it was their adaptation of ‘The Snow Queen’.
There were still a few people in the theatre (Covid regs in place) but we watched it on the live stream, from the comfort of our own home.
It was a blended panto, so that it worked for both the in house people and those watching at home, and honestly it was really impressive.
The way they incorporated the videos and video montages into the show as well as special effects onto the screen during certain moments was really impressive.
Considering you weren’t actually there it really was a lovely, intimate and immersive experience.
They also added interactivity to the show which was fun.
The troupe was made up of only 5 people, which is alot smaller than usual, but they did a fantastic job (as always) and they still played their instruments live, (always a favourite part of ours) They are all so talented.
It was great to see some of the familiar faces from pantos past.
And, it was as hilarious, fun and silly as always!
We thoroughly enjoyed the show! With snacks & drinks in hand.
I’m so glad we could still enjoy this tradition. Theatre is one of our absolute favourite pastimes, we love watching a show whether it be in a small theatre or in the West End.
It’s such a valuable and important part both of the entertainment branch and of our lives, and I for one hate to see it struggle.
We added a donation to our ticket cost to help support our local theatre.
I also donated to the Theatre Support fund. I’ve left a link below for you to check out how you can help, and the cool ‘The Show Must Go On’ merch that they have available.
During December, me and my friend at work have been trying out different mince pies. We work together two days so on a Monday I would bring one in and on a Thursday she would bring one in.
We got to try six different mince pies during this time, and we rated them to see which ones we preferred.
We tried the following Mince Pies:
Aldi Specially Selected
Gregg’s Bakery
Sainsburys Shortcrust Bakery
M&S Puff Pastry
Waitrose Extra Special
Co op Locally Sourced
• The Rankings •
We went for a few categories to score each mince pie on, these were:
Appearance
Overall Taste
Pastry
Fillage
And then we gave them an overall taste each.
• The Results •
Aldi Specially Selected
Appearence: 9/10 & 8/10
Overall taste: 7/10 & 7/10
Pastry: 7/10 & 7/10
Fillage: 8/10 & 7/10
Overall Rating: 7/10 & 7/10
Gregg’s
Appearance: 8/10 & 8/10
Overall taste: 5/10 & 7/10
Pastry: 6/10 & 7/10
Fillage: 8/10 & 7/10
Overall rating: 5/10 & 6/10
Sainsburys Bakery
Appearence: 8/10 & 8/10
Overall taste: 8/10 & 8/10
Pastry: 9/10 & 9/10
Fillage: 5/10 & 5/10
Overall rating: 8.5/10 & 9/10
M&S Puff Pastry
Appearence: 6/10 & 6/10
Overall taste: 6.5/10 & 8/10
Pastry: 5/10 & 3/10
Fillage: 3/10 & 3/10
Overall rating: 6/10 & 7/10
Waitrose
Appearence: 8/10 & 8/10
Overall taste: 9/10 & 6/10
Pastry: 8.5/10 & 8/10
Fillage: 8/10 & 8/10
Overall rating: 8/10 & 8/10
Co-op Locally Sourced
Appearence: 6/10 & 6/10
Overall taste: 10/10 & 10/10
Pastry: 8/10 & 9/10
Fillage: 10/10 & 9/10
Overall rating: 9.5/10 & 9/10
So, the winner of our taste testing was… (drum roll please)
The Co-op Locally Sourced !
These are my favourite and even with trying others that hasn’t changed, and my friend agreed too.
I LOVE festive food (& food in general) and Christmas is one of those times of year where we indulge a little more, enjoy a few of our favourite snacks and have a nice time.
… I like having some of these, particularly, at Christmas as they make me feel super festive, but obviously alot of them can be had at other times of the year!
Here are some of my favourites…
A absolute festive staple.
This is one of my favourite chocolates. I would of course eat this at other times of the year but, I often just get the grab bags or bars, saving the actual chocolate orange for christmas time.
It always feels so festive, perhaps it’s the Christmas/clementine similarity.
And thanks to old Saint Nick, I always get one in my stocking.
Now I do only eat these ones at Christmas! Mince pies.
These are a treat that I have started to like only over the last five years or so, and I love them throughout November and December.
Me and my work friend did a mince pie taste testing this year so look out for that in a Blogmas post to come.
Shortbread is my favourite type of biscuit and I LOVE them at Christmas. I especially love the M&S Christmas, musical tins. These little packs of Chritmas trees are delish too.
Tesco’s Christmas shortbread selection tins are my favourite in terms of taste, super delicious and with lots of sugar on top.
PRINGLES! The ultimate crisps.
I try not to eat tooooo many because they really are addictive!! So I always get these for Christmas as they are a buffet essential 👌🏻
Sour Cream and Chive are my absolute fave.
Hot Chocolate is a Christmas must have!
Perfect for the cold weather and these are a couple of my favourites.
I recently discovered the Cadbury hot chocolate and how good it is. I’m sure I’ve tried it before but not made it well, because I can’t get enough of it now!! I was definatly making it wrong Haha.
Mint hot chocolate is my favourite flavour and there is something about the minty taste that makes me feel super festive.
Hot chocolates are so cosy 🥰
Crackers & cheese are a Christmas must have. Great as a little snack or part of an epic buffet.
& finally…
Our tipple of choice!
It’s got to be a nice, ice cold fruit cidar. I don’t really drink casually, but I do love to have a few of these in the fridge, ready for the festive period 🎄
It’s one of the times of year that I do actually fancy a casual one here and there.
I love stockings and finding little bits to go in them, (helping out Santa obv!)
I generally go by the rule of something edible, something to do something to wear, something to pamper and something fun/silly!
I feel like the fun/silly present is easier to be more specific, depending on who the stocking is for…
So, here are some general ideas for you!
A book 📚 Festive theme optional.Because is there anything for festive than a Chocolate orange ?!A pampering face mask!A useful item but also nice to receive, u think they are handy and its always nice to try new ones.Something fun! A little game like Top Trumps, Uno or Dobble are great for Christmas morning/day time for a bit of fun. I love Dobble.A new Christmas decoration. Little personalised or initial ones are cute.A CLASSIC. No explanation needed.A little filled bauble with some treats! Cute and a little different.Christmassy socks! Or cosy ones. Either way, who doesn’t love a sock (and they are always handy hey!)
Another little pamper product such as a bath bomb or something similar. Lush have some funky, festive ones.
So, here are my top 5 ways to well and truly get into the festive spirit!
1. Listening to Christmas tunes
Whilst I’m still at work, and there are still lots of restrictions in place for going out, this is one of the things that has made me feel the most Christmassy.
We have been listening to them lots at work and in the car.
If a Christmas sing along doesn’t get you into the festive spirit, what will!!
2. Watching a Christmas film 📽
I LOVE Christmas films for adding a bit of festive cheer into your life.
Even more so as the cinemas are closed. I miss it more than I thought.
I shared some of my faves in a earlier Blogmas post so check them out here !
Grab some popcorn, your fave festive chocs, a hot choc perhaps? And you’ve got yourself a super festive afternoon.
3. Reading a Christmas book 📚
As soon as November hits I start the festive reads and I don’t stop until February.
If you love festive books as much as me then take a look at these ones, they are some that I’ve really enjoyed.
Books are a great escape from reality and perfect for a bit of festive downtime during the Christmas chaos.
4. Christmas Day Prep 🎁
I love wrapping presents, planning Christmassy activities and of course planning the Christmas eats too.
I know that this year is going to be a bit different in terms of Christmas, but its important to make the most of the situation we are in, enjoy what we can do and not focus on what we can’t.
And hey, you might even end up with a new fun tradition thanks to 2020!
I love stocking up on a few of our favourite Christmas treats, like mince pies and slowly picking up buffet bits and bobs, from various shops depending on what they have each year.
And wrapping presents for my loved ones always makes me feel super festive 😊🎁
5. Festive baking 🥧
I really enjoy baking and festive flavours (except you cinnamon 🤢) so I always look forward to baking at this time of year, especially when you can indulge a little more, guilt free, and try all your efforts.
I’ve been looking up some yummy ideas to inspire my baking over the next week or so!
Here’s a festive recipe I’ve already tried out. They were super yummy!
Roseanne Byford 