What I got for Christmas 2015

Christmas this year was good. There was family time, lots of food, presents and we even played a few boardgames too! I am extremely thankful for everything I received this year for Christmas from friends and family, I love everything they got me and I think they loved everything I got them as well.

It was hard to get the perfect picture of everything I got for Christmas but eventually, after a good while, I managed it. I knew about a couple of the gifts I was getting but my mum definitely surprised me with a few gifts as well. My mum completely surprised me with Shrek: The Musical on DVD, another pair of Cheryl heels, a microwavable toy pug (so so adorable!) and the Tanya Burr products. I was so surprised she managed to get the Tanya products because I couldn't find them in any shops when I looked, I guess we got a bit of luck.

From my Nana, I received a mermaid print shirt from Zara and rose gold shoes from Ted Baker. These items are absolutely beautiful and definitely my taste, my Nana knows me well, as does my mum since she bought the Winter version of Cheryl's perfume; Storm Flower Noir. I had only mentioned Tyler Oakley once to her whilst I showed her the Disney challenge between him and Zoella but she must've really listened since she picked up his book for me which I have been wanting to read. I was really surprised my mum got me any books at all since she is always complaining that I have far too many, yet she got me Wake, a book about mermaids that I added to the Amazon Wishlist a couple of months ago too. The last few things she got me included the Real Technique Sponge, a pug tea diffuser, the deer shawl from Lush and the new Demi Lovato album which I did know I was getting because I pre-ordered it months before it was due for release, I'm just a little bit of a fan.

Pretty Little Liars is one of my favourite shows and my brother bought the fourth season for me along with one of my favourite true movies called Perfect Body, it's about a gymnast who develops an eating disorder. My brother also got me some Jelly Belly sweets in all the best flavours which I'm sure won't last much longer.

There was some Zoella products in my stocking! I got the body scrub, the Let's Spritz body mist and the Blissful Mistful solid perfume. There was also Tanya Burr Lashes, Mini Real Technique Brushes and some No:7 products. The No:7 products included an eye brush, a cream eye shadow in the colour Glistening Ray, a cream Instant Radiance Highlight and a Pop & Glow Cream Blush. I cannot wait to try out all of these products because they all look amazing. Gingerbread House was the one thing from the Tanya Burr Christmas Collection I really wanted to get my hands on. It is just so me but I couldn't find it anywhere and it sold out online almost immediately. The same occurred with the Candy Glam Beauty Essentials Palette but my mum managed to get both! The names of the eye-shadows in the palette are adorable, names like snowflake, ballet slippers, chandelier and baking brownies. They are all colours I would wear and the lip gloss is a perfect shade for my very pale skin colour. My mum did very very well with her detective skills and choices with all the make up.

What is Christmas without a couple of pairs of fluffy socks? I got the softest pairs in a gorgeous turquoise blue and white from my Aunt along with some fudge (currently eating) and a bracelet which I gave to my mum because she liked it better. As you have probably noticed, I have a thing for pugs, my mum has noticed this too and although she doesn't see the appeal in pugs but she still bought me fluffy socks with cute pugs on them. More pug items to add to the growing collection, maybe one day I'll get a real pug.

There are two last gifts that didn't arrive in time for Christmas that will hopefully be here soon. A black Parka from New Look and All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven. I have been wanting a black Parka for a long time, I have a Khaki coloured one but I feel like I would wear a black one a lot more and All the Bright Places is a book that everybody has been raving about so I've been dying to read it and now I finally can.

I am extremely grateful and thankful for all the gifts and money I received on Christmas Day, I was absolutely spoiled. I love every single one of my gifts and I will for sure use them all constantly. My family loved all the gifts from me as well which is a huge relief. My dad especially loved his Knight Rider seasons, he has been watching them non-stop since Christmas Day! I'm really glad my family all felt special, appreciated and we got to spend time together on Christmas since it doesn't happen often. I really want there are more times like that next year and not just on special occasions.

xxx 

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope your day was as joyous, family-orientated and relaxed as Christmas can possibly be. My day was a little stressful to begin with because everybody was super tired since we all had to get up before 8am for everything to get done, then my Nana's infection was getting a lot worse, resulting in us missing out on seeing some family members until everything was sorted. This took a lot longer than we all thought. I went over to my Nana's at around 10:45am and didn't get home until about 4pm. We didn't get to have Christmas dinner until 7pm when we originally planned it for 3pm in the afternoon. My dad, brother and I were exhausted and ended up falling asleep for a couple of hours just after we got in at 4pm which was 100% needed.

We did get to open all of our presents in the morning before all the drama began, which was great. Everybody loved all of their presents, especially my mum because she had no clue whatsoever as to what she was getting. I have actually got her tickets to see Annie in April so I might surprise her with them on New Year instead. My dad has already started watching his main present from my mum, brother and I - Knight Rider: The Complete Four Season Boxset. It was one of those shows I grew up watching because he was extremely fond of it. Knight Rider and The 6 Million Dollar Man were his two favourites and now he has them both and can watch them any time he wants.

Christmas dinner was really good even though I don't actually like turkey. My mum had bought everything you could think of for the perfect Christmas dinner, I was most looking forward to the Yorkshire puddings and the ham and wasn't that bothered about anything else if i'm perfectly honest. There was an incredible amount of food so I think it's pretty accurate to say that there's going to be a few days of leftovers for us. The table was set up nicely with browns, reds and golds. We had a centre piece as well and I loved it, it was really pretty and festive but not too over the top. A few fake candles here and there, a dim of the lights and the perfect cosy atmosphere is created.

After dinner, I genuinely managed to convince my family to play some games! We played Timber, UNO and 'Guess the Theme Song'. It was so great to actually spend time together like that even though it wasn't for long. I was shocked that my brother stayed down for any games at all since it's a rare sighting if he is out of his  room.  I couldn't quite convince them that Disney Monopoly was the best game to play but there is always tomorrow for that one, fingers crossed.

A couple of games later and it was time for a little bit of normal TV until Christmas specials like Mrs Browns Boys came on. EastEnders was on for an hour tonight - I certainly wasn't complaining about that. The episode was extremely tense but heart melting at the same time. I felt all the emotions. For anybody who watches EastEnders, has done for a while and is a (massive) fan of Ronnie Mitchell, you will know what I mean, Jack and Ronnie are back! Words cannot describe how EXCITED I am for this. The episode did end with a cliffhanger and all of the drama is far from over so between now and New Year, I will be glued to the TV every single time EastEnders comes on. Can you tell I am a fan of the show? 

Mrs Browns Boys is a comedy sketch show my mum used to watch quite a lot, a few years ago and ever since it returned, we have been watching it together, especially the Christmas Special. I was fortunate enough to be in the audience whilst the Christmas Special of 2013 (I think) was actually being filmed. I have never laughed so much in my life it was brilliant. The sketches this year made me laugh a little but not as much as previous years did and the episode seemed a lot shorter this year too. I'm not sure if that was just me who thought that though.

By the time we'd finished watching Mrs Browns Boys, I was dosing off on the couch. I was just so tired and with a plan of getting up early again on Boxing Day for sales shopping, I decided that bed was the best option for me. Yet I am still watching Vlogmas videos and chatting. I'm going to be absolutely knackered tomorrow, hopefully the good deals will make up for it. We are going shopping early so we can get home early and watch films all day. On the list so far are Cinderella, 101 Dalmations and the new film my mum got today. The only shops I really want to go into are Lush and Superdrug - gotta stock up on those bath bombs whilst you can - so I don't see us being out shopping for too long. I hope your Christmas was fun-filled and perfect and that your Boxing Day isn't too stressful if you are venturing out like me.

xxx

T'was the Night Before Christmas

I hope everybody has had a great Christmas Eve because I certainly have. There was a fair bit of tidying up to do around my house before we all relaxed and my parents did have to attend a funeral which was unfortunate and lowered their spirits but once the Christmas versions of TV shows came on and we started watching Christmas films, everyone's mood improved. 

Whilst my parents were at the funeral I watched Bride Wars, which I know isn't festive in the slightest but it is still a really good film and it was on TV anyways. Once they returned, the cleaning began. I tidied and hoovered my room, brought all the Christmas gifts downstairs ready to be placed under the tree and had a relaxing lush bath with a Butter Bear and a little bit of Snow Fairy for amazing smelling bubbles. 

After dinner, we settled to watch EastEnders (another festive choice from me) until my dad left - he was DJing at a local bar and wasn't really interested in watching Christmas films anyways. As soon as he left, The Polar Express was put on. It is a little tradition for my mum, brother and I to watch the Polar Express every single Christmas Eve since we seen it in the cinema on a snowy Christmas Eve back in 2004 and we still love it. This will be another little tradition I will carry on with my children. Jack Frost was the next Christmas film my mum and I watched, by this point my brother had had enough 'family time' and went back to his room again. Nevertheless, Jack Frost is one of my favourite Christmas films and I don't think I even watched it last year! It surprises me how many people haven't actually seen the film, it's about a boy who's dad dies close to Christmas but comes back as a snowman a year later and tries to fix all the problems they had between them before it's too late and his son grows up. It is such a great film, my description certainly does not do it justice.

After I've finished writing this post, I am going to settle down in bed with a nice, hot cup of tea and watch my favourite festive film - The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. I will continue to rave about this film until I find somebody else who loves it too! That is a promise. I have watched this each year for as long as I can remember and always by myself since nobody else in my family likes the film but I prefer it that way anyways, just means there is no talking or loud, noisy eaters. Plus this year I received the prettiest book version of it so now I can start reading it every year as well as watching it.

Tomorrow is actually going to be quite a hectic day for my family as we have so many people to visit at so many certain times as well as actually spending time together just the four of us. I am determined to play a couple of boardgames at some point during the day, it is my mission, as well as trying to keep all arguing to a minimum. I just can't wait to see the look on my families face when they open their gifts, that is what I am most looking forward too for sure, especially my mums. I hope you guys all have a family orientated, happy and fantastic Christmas tomorrow! I'd love to read all about other people's Christmas as well as posting about my own! I hope Santa is good to you all!

xxx

Gift Giving and Watching The Grinch

Tonight was the last First Aid Cadet evening until next year. We decided to finish with a relaxed night of Christmas jumpers, Christmas films and a small Christmas gift each. Each cadet received a little Malteaser Mini Reindeer Box (containing seven chocolate reindeer), wrapped in very cute paper and finished off with a little Gingerbread man decoration that they can keep and put on their Christmas tree at home. They each got a Christmas card and candy cane as well, I had everything laid out waiting for them to arrive.

Unfortunately, not all of them turned up because some weren't feeling well. The ones who did turn up had a good time eating the chocolate and candy canes. It took them forever to pick a Christmas film from the selection I brought with me though. Eventually they settled on The Grinch. I was hoping they would pick Jack Frost because I haven't watched it this year yet but I knew The Grinch would be the one because a certain one of our cadets is extremely fond of The Grinch and watches the film A LOT. The Grinch was actually one of the Christmas films I wasn't intending to watch this Christmas but I'm glad I did watch it, I actually forgot how sweet the film actually is.

As I am writing this post, I am watching Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. I love the Home Alone series but I think I like this one the best, purely because I love New York so much and cannot wait to go back again in three years time. Being completely honest, I certainly wouldn't mind getting lost in New York or ending up in New York by mistake! Watching as Kevin (the main character) runs through Central Park brings back memories of my brother and I trying to find the set of rocks used to film the scene when Kevin gets his foot stuck, actually finding them and then us pretending to be stuck whilst my mum took a picture. We got a good few strange looks doing that but the picture was worth it. Watching these films also brings back memories of setting little 'traps' all around our house after we first watched the films. My mum definitely wasn't a fan of us for a good week or so!

I have decided that I will not only finish Blogmas, but will continue to blog the rest of December as well. I'll most likely have more interesting things to post after Christmas anyways. The only thing that will be different is that there will be no advent calendar to give regular updates on, especially when they are as adorable as today - little zoo animals in a little basket. Today's advent gift has definitely been my favourite so far, it is just too cute. Tomorrow it's the dreaded Christmas dinner shop, Tesco is going to be crazier than ever but it'll be an experience to say the least! You guys will be updated on all the craziness tomorrow.

xxx

I Finished all the Wrapping!

I've finally finished every single bit of Christmas wrapping. I started off with wrapping all the distant family gifts for cousins etc, which were mainly aftershave or bath products or David Beckham gift sets. I then moved onto the gifts for my Nana and then finally onto the gifts I've got for my mum, dad and brother.

I probably purchased the most gifts for my mum because she is the easiest to buy for. I always get her a book and she loves the author Cathy Glass and she had a new book out, so that was sorted pretty quick. My mum has a Samsung tablet with a cover that is covered in tape because it is so old and tatty, it was definitely time for a new one so I picked up a mint green one for her. The next present(s) are the main gift really because they make up an outfit. Firstly a little pair of tan moccasin shoes from New Look, secondly, a black and white striped midi-skirt also from New Look, and lastly, a mustard coloured jumper which is quite light-weight so it can be layered if she wanted to. Recently my mum has become more trusting in my fashion advice and become more adventurous with her clothing. This time last year she would never wear a skirt or the colour mustard but now she loves the colour and has a few skirts that she really likes. There are a couple of more things for my mum, including the Ferrero Roche's and the Foot Pedi, but they are from my dad, brother and me.

My dad has been wearing the same navy blue jogging bottoms for at least six years! They are so old, worn, discoloured and pretty much useless now that I decided it was time to invest in a new pair. I got him grey ones from Primark and my mum bought him the same pair in navy. The second thing I got for my him is the new Kevin Bridges DVD because this time last year I bought him tickets to see the show, so this year, having been to the show and loved it, I bought him the DVD of it. The Chase is an amazing game show that my dad is OBSESSED with, so what's a better gift than The Chase Playing Cards that we can play on Christmas Day? It is a little bit of a joke present but he will love it and get really competitive just like me, we will appear on a game show one day, that is a definite goal.

My brother and I agreed that we weren't spending much money on each other for Christmas this year because he is eighteen in a month and I'm twenty one in six months time. Nevertheless, I got him Southpaw on DVD because he loved it when he went to the cinema to see it and I also got him the BFG on DVD because he used to absolutely adore it when he was younger and not going to lie, I did catch him singing the songs the other day so I thought it would be a nice, sentimental gift.

I have also bought some Lush products to put into stockings for my brother and mum but they are all due to arrive tomorrow when I have a hundred things to do, typical. Now that all the presents are wrapped and everything is organised, I am even more excited for Friday, even though this month has gone in crazy quick! I mean it's three more days and then Christmas! I only have three more boxes left in my advent calendar which is pretty sad because of how adorable it is, I mean today I got a tiny guitar and a wrapped present. A tiny guitar, that's adorable. If you have been reading my Blogmas posts each day, Thank you! I am actually quite surprised how well I've done with posting every day, only a few days left. Or, I might just continue posting the rest of December, you'll just need to wait and see.

xxx

Christmas Crafts

My living room is full of Christmas decorations, as is my conservatory, but my dining room was looking a little bare in my opinion. Which is why when I was shopping yesterday I picked up two silver frames and a gift bag which sounds silly but an idea popped into my head the moment I seen the gift bag. I had glitter and glue and home already and in my head these four things together were going to work perfectly. It does sounds a bit strange but this is what I came up with.

I bought two frames because there was a pretty Winter scene on each side of the bag. I cut out each scene and measured them against the frame. Once I had gotten the sizing right, I added some subtle silver, white and black glitter to different parts of the scene. To cover the holes at the top of each scene from where the ribbon handles had been, all I did was simply tape a piece of white card over the back of them. To add some final finishing touches, I found a white and dark grey pencil and added some darker shading and highlight to some parts of the picture. Once I was happy with the subtle changes, I added the picture to the frame and secured it in with a little more tape. 

My mum absolutely loved the finished look of the pictures and didn't believe that it was a simple gift bag beforehand. I was going to add some snow spray to the glass but I couldn't find any more in the house but I do think the picture would look even better with a little snow spray so I might have to make one last trip into town. It's hard to believe that something so pretty and elegant looking started off as a bag, I've even had some people asking me to make one for them too! I really liked making these to put in the dining room and I'm definitely going to keep doing similar things throughout the seasons. Present wrapping has also progressed because I'm nearly done! By tomorrow I should be completely finished despite most likely needing to pick up even more wrapping paper. 

Today in my advent calendar I got a little scooter. It really is starting to feel like Christmas even though we don't have snow. I've been working my way through Christmas films finishing today off with Love Actually, which I have never seen before (I know, I'm a disgrace). Tomorrow I plan to watch Jack Frost, The Santa Clause and The Holiday (which I have also never seen) and drink numerous cups of tea off course.

xxx

Coffee, Shopping & The Wrapping Begins

The town centre on a Saturday is busy enough never mind it being so close to Christmas, yet me and my mum thought today would be a great day to go and get last minute things like Christmas money wallets and chocolates. Five and a half hours it took us because it was so incredibly busy and we only went in a few shops! We did get absolutely everything we needed though, well we hope we did anyways, if not then tough because we are definitely not heading out into that madness again until Boxing Day.

We went into town aiming to go into five shops: Tesco, Wilkinson's, Boots, Card Factory and Primark. Naturally the was a little trip to Costa for some food and a coffee squeezed in there since everybody needs a coffee break. After we got wrapping paper, money wallets and gift bags in the Card Factory, a new toaster from Wilkinson's and some candles from Primark, Costa was definitely calling our names.

I haven't actually had any of the festive drinks from Costa yet this year so I was intrigued to see if they had anything new. They had a few new drinks but in the end I went with a Gingerbread Latte. I was tempted by the Sticky Toffee Latte but I didn't really fancy anything that sweet. My mum got a Peach Iced Lemonade which is her absolute favourite but she did try my latte too, she wasn't too keen. To go with my latte, I got one of their chicken fajita wraps which are amazing and my mum got a plain old cheese and ham toastie but also a sneaky lemon muffin (another of her favourites).

After our Costa break, we only had two more shops to go! In Boots, the main thing to be picked up was a gift card for one of my mum's friends. However, No7 had a promotion on so we couldn't help ourselves. For any two products you bought, you got a free gift box and normally things like that have rubbish products as the free gift but on this occasion they were really good! I picked an item to be put mum's stocking and she did the same for me so we don't know what each other has got just yet and we shared the contents of the gift box and put those products in our stockings to save for Christmas too. 

Tesco was going to be the real challenge, ee had to get all the chocolate gifts for not only people who help my Nana, but for all of my family and extended family as well. We ended up with eight boxes of Ferrero Roche and four boxes of After Eights for the people who help out with my Nana and a whole bunch of chocolate for us as well, including eight Malteser Reindeer gift boxes for the first aid cadets as a little Christmas gift. I wrapped the cadets gift extremely cute and even attached a little Gingerbread man that they can put on their Christmas trees afterwards too!

So far I have wrapped all the edible items that people are getting for Christmas; tomorrow I will tackle the rest of the gifts, including the ones I've got for my mum, dad and brother. It's going to be a long day because there is A LOT of stuff to wrap. People normally hate wrapping presents but I actually quite enjoy it, I can make sure everything is wrapped perfectly and looks pretty, plus time goes by quite quickly when you have loads of Christmas films to watch. My mum normally leaves me alone for the whole day just to get on with everything so that is a complete bonus! I'm planning on getting up at a reasonable time tomorrow morning but going by what my sleeping pattern has been like, that might be a little difficult. I've got lot's to do tomorrow so let's hope I manage to get it all done. There was lot's of little toys and another little backpack waiting for me in my advent calendar today, only five more days to open and the Santa's Workshop scene will be finished! 

xxx

What Would I Like for Christmas?

It's only one week until Christmas Day! I am getting quite excited although I would be a lot more excited if we had snow, instead we have pretty powerful winds and the usual rain. Normally I would just stay inside curled up with Millie, a cup of tea and a blanket with the TV on (like just now) but today I had an event to attend as a first aider, another football game. It was fine until we heard over the radio that forty children under the age of twelve had arrived and we just knew they would annoy us the entire game. All I heard from them was swearing, insults aimed at the referee and then them all shouting and bragging about what each of them was getting for Christmas; an X Box One here, a PS4 there, the odd bike and of course they all seemed to be getting an iPhone 6. When I was twelve, I didn't even have a phone yet! However, all the present talk did get me thinking about what I would realistically like for Christmas since another dog is apparently not an option.

I do know a couple of the things that I'm getting for Christmas purely because I'm twenty and my mum wasn't sure what Lush and Zoella products I liked. I don't know any items specifically but I did give her a list of the products I liked and she picked a couple from that list. Apart from that I have no idea what I am getting. I haven't really asked for much, just a couple of small things here and there.

One thing I have asked for is Demi Lovato's new album Confident. I love Demi and her music, always have done. Her voice is amazing, her backstory is inspiring and her songs are catchy, relatable and incredible. Naturally I couldn't wait until Christmas so I did download most of the songs from the album (all of which are as suspected AMAZING) but I'll just have to wait and see if I get the physical copy for Christmas. If not, I will definitely be making that purchase on Boxing Day.

I have always put my foundation on and blended it in with my fingers and it annoys me how messy my hands get but I really don't like applying my foundation with an actual brush so a friend suggested trying the Real Techniques Sponge instead. It was quite cheap so I mentioned that to my mum at one point and I thought it would be a nice little thing she could put it in my stocking along with whatever Lush products she decided on.

Tyler Oakley is a YouTuber that I watch occasionally but not often. I like him and he is funny so when I heard he was releasing a book it interested me and I do really wanted to read it. Turns out it was only £7 on Amazon so when my mum asked if there was any books I'd like, I mentioned that one. I was surprised she even asked me about wanting any books because all she does is moan about how many I have! I thought it wise to only mention one book and then I can always buy the rest later on.

Everybody who knows me knows that I am a massive Cheryl and Girls Aloud fan. I own everything (and I mean everything) they have released. I have seen them live six times and Cheryl on her solo tour once. So when Cheryl released a perfume called Storm Flower, it was pretty much assumed that I would want (need) it and I was lucky enough to get the special limited edition set with the perfume and body lotions as a gift last Christmas. Since then she has released another perfume called Storm Flower Noir and I think my mum has assumed the same for this perfume. This perfume set does seem to be cheaper and a lot easier to get a hold of than the last one so I am definitely keeping my fingers crossed.

Those are all the things I've mentioned to my mum for Christmas but no doubt she will surprise me and come up with a couple of extra things like she normally does. I will be extremely happy if I'm lucky enough to get these four things never mind anything extra she might pick up. Just because I tend to go overboard with her presents at Christmas, doesn't mean she has to do the same for me. Speaking of presents, there was a little blue wheelbarrow and a little orange teddy bear waiting for me in my advent calendar today, it won't be long until the Christmas Workshop scene is finished now! Tomorrow I am going shopping with my mum for boxes of chocolates for various people and cute wrapping paper so I can finally begin wrapping everyone's presents. A Costa trip might even be on the cards for tomorrow, I'll just need to wait and see.

xxx

Winter Essentials

When I watch YouTube video's about people's Autumn or Winter Essentials, I always think the same thing; you don't need a berry, red, burgundy or dark lip and you don't need to have your nails painted perfectly everyday in 'suitable' Autumn or Winter colours. During Autumn and especially Winter time, I'm lucky if I can be bothered to put foundation and powder on, dress in decent clothes and actually leave the house never mind painting my nails and making sure I have a seasonal lip colour on. Some of you will probably feel the same about some of my Winter must haves, but I can assure you there is no nail polish or lip sticks to be seen.

The first few things that I class as essentials (for me) are boots, flannel shirts, jumpers and cosy (yet sometimes outrageous) leggings. My leggings shown below are from Primark and keep me super warm, I don't tend to leave the house wearing them that often, only if I'm walking the dogs for a short while. 

Flannel shirts are a clothing item that becomes insanely popular through September-December but I wear them all year round anyways because I love them - I have pastel coloured flannels for Spring and Summer. They are just so easy to layer when it's cold and easy to throw on over a vest top when it's warmer, plus you can find them for reasonable prices pretty much anywhere. 

I live in Scotland, therefore rain occurs pretty much daily and it's always cold so jumpers and boots are 100% an essential for me. I have far too many jumpers to show but I get very cold very easily so most of my jumpers are a little baggy so I can layer them. I have been wearing these black boots with buckles that I got from New Look when they were on sale in Summer nearly every day. When it's dry and I'm not wearing the black boots, I normally wear my Timberland's which I can assure you I did not pay full price for!

The next things that I absolutely love during colder months are baths and candles, which do go together quite nicely. Sure moisturiser and lip balm are pretty important for your skin during colder months but they are pretty boring to talk about and I often forget to apply both of these to my body anyways. 

I will burn the occasional fresh scented candle throughout the year but when it gets colder, I go through so many candles. Primark do really good candles that are cheap and well scented so I do have quite a few from there burning around my house. There is always a candle in my bathroom for when I have a bath, they just add to the cosy, warm atmosphere. 

When I have a bath, my go to products are Lush which I know are a bit on the pricey side but they are 100% worth it in my opinion. I am a lazy person when it comes to moisturising and lush bath bombs clean you and moisturise you so they are a winner in my book, plus they smell and look amazing.

Once I get out the bath and put clean, cosy pyjamas on the first thing I want to do is have a cup of tea. If it's cold outside then hot drinks are always an good option, but since I am allergic to chocolate and sensitive to caffeine, I'm pretty limited in what I can have. It's just as well I really like different types of tea, so much so that my friend Sarah actually made me that cup cover, along with a cream coloured one not long after she had her little girl. 

Fairy lights aren't exactly essential but they are cute and make your room cosy, so I have a few sets of fairy lights turned on during winter.

With the fairy lights on, cup of tea made, the only thing to do is watch a favourite show or grab a book, there are just no better options. The first shows I would go to would be without a doubt Law and Order: SVU and Criminal Minds. Even though I have been LOVING Dance Moms at the moment, they are my ultimate obsessions and I could watch them all day, everyday. With books I do have an obscene amount, yet I always find myself reaching for Harry Potter around this time of year and I still haven't even read all the books in the series (shame on me). I will this time round she says for the hundredth time.

My last essential will definitely not apply to everybody but those of you who have house pets, whether that be dogs, cats, hamsters, rabbits etc will understand. I have two dogs, the older one is a chocolate Labrador called Buttons and she is a lot more independent and will only snuggle with you every so often for a short period of time. Millie on the other hand, she is two and a half, extremely cute and very, very affectionate. She would lay with you all day, snuggled up all warm and cosy if she could. If she was given the option to go out and play or stay on the couch nestled beside me, the outdoors wouldn't get a look in. I spend the majority of my days and nights with her curled up beside me or at my feet or just simply sprawled out on top of me or my bed and I absolutely love it. In Winter I have more time to spend at home since I am not at uni and that just means more time with Millie. I do love taking the dogs out for walks in the crisp weather but that is now where near on the same level as all the cuddles.

 So these are my Winter Essentials, sorry the post was up later than expected, I've had a busy day and editing all these photos got me a little frustrated so I needed a break before I continued with the post. Nonetheless I hope you enjoyed this post and agreed with what I think are Winter Essentials, well for me anyways. Today in my advent calendar I got another little elf which is currently sitting in Santa's sleigh proudly until the 24th when I will get him. Thanks for reading my seventeenth Blogmas post, come back tomorrow for another one that will be written after I've had a lush bath, whilst wearing cosy leggings and drinking a cup of tea with Millie sleeping beside me.

xxx

Watching Miracle on 34th Street

In my opinion, it is not the Christmas holidays unless Miracle on 34th Street has been watched! I find it so hard to believe that there are some people who haven't seen this absolute classic and feel good Christmas film and even more surprisingly, I know at least four people who haven't seen it! 

For those who have not seen Miracle on 34th Street, first of all, what are you doing? And secondly, I'll give you a little synopsis of the story line. The film is centered around a six year old called Susan who wants to believe in Santa like everybody else but her mother wants to keep her grounded and an elderly man called Kris Kringle who is hired as the Santa for the department store managed by Susan's mother. Over time, more and more people believe that Kris Kringle is the real Santa which cause the store sales to massively increase. In an attempt to prevent the stores sales Kris is threatened and exploited and finally arrested and portrayed as mentally unstable because he too believes that he is Santa. After Kris brought the Christmas spirit back into their family, Susan, her mother and a family friend Bryan all jump to help defend Kris when he is taken to court.

I have watched this film for years after I was shown it when I was very young. I love this film and it is definitely one of the best Christmas films out there so I thought  I would share it with some people.

On Tuesday evenings I help teach St Andrew's First Aid Cadets and I originally planned to teach them about injuries they would see in increase in during the winter months, like fractures and breaks, hypothermia and different type of wounds from falling but only one of the six cadets turned up tonight. The rest all had school shows or dances. So instead of getting her mum to come and collect her, I put Miracle on 34th Street on, turned the heating up and made us cups of tea because I knew she had never seen it before. I brought my laptop and a few Christmas films with me just in case there was only a couple of cadets and just as well I did. She absolutely loved the film and went home with the intention of making her mum watch it with her again tomorrow. There are a couple of classic Christmas films that she hasn't seen but now that she has nearly finished school for the holidays she is going to make her way through them.

As for the other people I know that haven't seen some of the most traditional, classic, feel good Christmas films out there, you will definitely be getting made to watch all of them, with cups of tea and snacks of course! Tonight was the first Christmas film I had sat down to watch this year and now I want to watch all of them at once. The next one I'll watch will probably be Jack Frost, another great, classic, Christmas film. I couldn't possible pick a favourite from all the amazing Christmas films out there, it's just too hard! 

Tomorrow I'm planning on having a Criminal Minds day so my friend and I can catch up with season 11 - we have been saving all the episodes so we can just binge watch them all. I know it isn't very festive to spend the whole day watching criminals but it's the best show ever and besides I'll have my advent calendar which is festive. Speaking of which, today's box was massive! I had to build a table from the pieces in the box to put the boxes of presents from yesterday on and there was a little radio in there too. I think we are exchanging gifts tomorrow as well so that should be really good. Thanks for reading my 15th blogmas post!

xxx

Banoffee Biscuit Snowballs

So today I made an attempt at a Christmas treat. I didn't want it to be the usual things like Santa Strawberries or Peppermint Bark so I went for Banoffee Biscuit Snowballs. They are extremely sweet and if you don't like Banoffee then you probably won't like these - my brother and mum didn't. So here is what you will need:

1 small, ripe banana or half of a large, ripe banana

250g pack of digestive biscuits

1/2 cup of toffee sauce

Chocolate of your choice

Toppings of your choice

Steps:

1) Crush the entire packet of digestive biscuits.

2) Mash up the banana into a paste.

3) Mix the banana paste, digestive crumbs and toffee sauce together and then roll into little balls.

4) Put the little balls onto a baking tray and place in the freezer for 25 minutes.

5) Whilst the balls are in the freezer, melt the chocolate you have chosen, white works better for this because I was going for a snowball look.

6) Use cocktail sticks to allow the process of coating the biscuit balls in chocolate easier.

7) Place the coated snowball onto baking paper.

8) Once all snowballs are coated, decorate as you please. I used blue, pearl and multi-coloured sprinkles on mine but coconut or chocolate shavings work too!

9) Place back in the freezer for 15 minutes before you eat them!

I hope you try out these Banoffee Biscuit Snowballs because I liked them despite my brother and mum not being particularly fond of them. They are incredibly sweet so I would recommend making them quite small or only having one at a time. I am definitely going to be trying out a few other ideas for Christmas treats at some point and if they turn out well, I'll write a little post about them. Today in my advent calendar I got little Christmas gift boxes.

xxx

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

Today I had a super long lie in and it was great, I think it was the thought of cleaning my room that kept me in bed if I'm honest but now I finally have free time again! Now that I am finished uni for Christmas, the first thing I wanted to do was finish decorating. All the lights for outside the house went up, we put little Santa outside the door and added some finishing touches in the living and dining room. I think it looks great, although I am tempted to move some of the decorations that are on the main Christmas tree in the living room - they are just not in the right place! The little Christmas Sweet Shop is nearly eighteen years old! Quite a few of our decorations are from when my brother and I were little but they look great and are really cute and festive so they kept put out every year.

Once the main house decorations were finished, it was time to clean my room and finish decorating it for Christmas. It didn't actually take me too long to clean it which surprised my mum and since I already had the Christmas bedding on, I didn't have to do much more. I added the Christmas teddy's and the advent bunting I bought last year and it looked really good but not great so I untangled the LED fairy lights I bought from Primark and added them around the advent bunting. Now it looked great. My bedroom window needed a little something extra and these bells have been put on my window for a countless number of years, they have been replaced a couple of times but I always seem to pick the bells. Finally we come to my mini Christmas tree! I love decorating my tree because I can put as many decorations on it as I want and they will all be in the right places. I did go to town on the tree decorations but I think it looks really really good! A few more fairy lights here and there, a couple candles and some cinnamon scented pine cones placed and my room was complete. Sitting in it with the fairy lights on, a cup of tea in hand and the smell of cinnamon slowly filling the room is absolute bliss and makes me feel very festive.

Since we are twelve days into advent, I thought I would show you a proper update of my (incredibly cute) advent calendar. I forgot to mention before but the calendar did come with a backdrop scene which I finally assembled and placed on my chest of drawers today. I added all the little bits and bobs I've received over the past eleven days (today I got a miniature card game) and I can't wait until it is completely finished and because it is a proper Christmas scene, I can bring it out next year as a fun decorative piece for my room. 

I hope you are all getting into the Christmas spirit as much as I am! I'm slowly going to be making my way through all the best Christmas films now as well, starting tomorrow evening. Tomorrow I am going to be attempting to make some Christmas treats I think, so come back and see how I get on!

xxx

Finally Seeing Def Leppard!

Every one is brought up listening to music their parents like, for me that was mainly Abba (blame my mother) and Def Leppard (a much better choice from my dad there). I did end up liking both groups but without a doubt Def Leppard where the preference. The are still around today despite all the members being in their 50's. My dad and brother first saw them live together back in 2008. They saw them again in 2011 but I never got to either of the concerts. This time last year, my brother and I managed to get three tickets (finally one for me!) for their 2015 tour. The band have been touring the world non stop since January and tonight they performed in Glasgow.

Tonight there was two support bands, Black Star Riders (who I had never heard of) and Whitesnake. Even though I had never heard of Black Star Riders before, they were actually not bad. Whitesnake were good even though I only knew three of the songs they performed and my brother caught the guitarists own personal guitar plectrum - he was incredibly chuffed with that.

Def Leppard didn't come on stage until about 21:30 but they were well worth the wait! Despite all members being in their 50's they put on an amazing show with all their classics and a couple of new songs thrown in the mix too. I have been waiting eight years (since my brother first seen them) to see these guys live and I was certainly not disappointed. We got barrier standing positions and everything, meaning we were super close to the band and my brothers favourite member pointed and winked at him, he nearly died on the spot. They performed a good hour and twenty minutes and I swear they all had different guitars for each song!

Tonight was such a great night and I didn't get home until 01:00am after a much needed Mcdonalds pit stop, which is why today's Blogmas post is a little later than normal. Today in my advent calendar there was more little lights to put in the little bucket I got yesterday and right now I would love nothing more than to wrap up in my duvet and go to sleep but I have my final mini exam at uni tomorrow so I should probably study at least a little... or watch some vlogmas videos. After tomorrow I am free of uni and I'll get to finish my room and share how festive my house is!

xxx

Disney and Doughnuts

I have a lot of work to get through this week for university and then on Friday I am finished for Christmas. Next weekend literally cannot come quick enough. The thought of the amount of time I will be spending reading psychological statistics and data this week is extremely off putting so I figured one last day to myself before I knuckle down was acceptable, so my mum and I went shopping.

The three main shops I wanted to go in were Primark, Superdrug and HMV. In Primark I didn't get much, only a hat, some cosy tights and some gloves. My mum on the other hand went a little crazy and got two pairs of boots, two cardigans, a Christmas cardigan, a Christmas jumper and slippers for my brother, jewellery for some friends and a flannel shirt! I did pick up a few things from Superdrug (*hint hint* Zoella) but they are going to be kept back as Christmas gifts so you'll just need to wait and see what I got! HMV was where I went a little crazy, along with some Christmas gifts for my dad, I got a couple (haha!) of Disney DVD's that I haven't already got.

Surprisingly these are six classic Disney films that I love but didn't actually own and I had vouchers given to me by a family member to spend so I couldn't help myself. I already had Lady and the Tramp 2, Cinderella 2 and 101 Dalmatians 2 so it made sense to get the originals. I used to love Pinocchio, Tarzan and The Jungle Book when I was younger but haven't seen them in years. I sense a Disney marathon occurring once I have finished all my uni work! After going a little Disney crazy, my mum wanted to go into M&S to pick up a few things for my nana for Christmas. I may have accidentally found myself wandering the Christmas section and found the pillow I have been looking for. It's quite small and was quite pricey (£12) which is not what I would normally pay for a small pillow (Primark or Tesco will do me) but it is perfect and has a little fawn on it, it's not directly Christmasy but it works with the rest of my decor. After a long day of shopping, the best thing to do is definitely to go and pay the brand new Krispy Kreme that has just been opened a visit and get a free doughnut whilst waiting in the queue. My brother went a couple days ago and the 24 doughnuts that he brought home barely lasted a week, they were so good! We decided that one more box this year would be okay and in future they would be an occasional treat because of how unhealthy (delicious) they are. We got 12 doughnuts and drove home listening to Christmas songs, had dinner and had a cup of tea and a doughnut of course.

As I finish of this post, I am sat on my bed with a mulled wine candle lit, Christmas jammies on, cup of tea in hand and Pinocchio playing in the background. I am in absolute bliss, until I wake up tomorrow and have to start on the mountain of work that is. Today in my advent calendar I got a little reindeer! Tomorrow's box looks really big so I'm really intrigued to see what it is. I am actually quite surprised at how well I am doing for Blogmas so far, I am really enjoying it and definitely think I'll complete the whole of Blogmas. Thanks for reading my 6th Blogmas post and I hope you come back tomorrow for day 7!     xxx

Christmas Jumpers and Christmas Party

So I have 7 Christmas jumpers (yes 7!) and I couldn't decide which one to wear for the Christmas party I was going to tonight. It was the St Andrew's First Aid company Christmas party tonight with our cadets joining us as well. I had quite a few options to choose from as you can see. I know it seems a little over the top to have 7 (and I may have 8 by this time tomorrow thanks to Rosie and her awesome jumper) but they have all been gathered over a couple of years so it makes it okay.

My Christmas jumpers are from a couple of different places, both the pug jumper (£12.99) and the cream and mint green patterned jumper (on sale for £7) are from New Look an the green Christmas house scene with the candy canes on the shoulders (which I believe Zoella owns) is from Primark (£10). The last 4 jumpers are all from random little shops in my town and where all between £8 and £10. The jumper I decided on was the Primark Christmas scene one and of course I wore the glittery reindeer antlers that are in the picture as well (they had bells on them!).

Tonight's Christmas party was a success and in my opinion much better than what our Christmas night was last year. I brought my Wii and loads of games, giant jenga and twister and we had the place all decorated with crackers, festive table cloths, streamers, tinsel and had the Christmas music playing in the background of course. Everybody showed up with Christmas jumpers on and looked great!  Giant jenga proved to be a huge hit despite us not being able to make a game last more than 5 minutes and twister was great (more like painful) as well. It was when it was time to play the Wii that it was my turn to shine because it's the only thing I am good at, especially Just Dance and Mario Kart. The cadets made a bad choice with those games because I definitely wasn't going easy on them! Just Dance was great fun and hilarious when we managed to convince certain people to join in to Beyonce - Crazy in Love. We made the very wise decision to play Just Dance before the food arrived instead of after, I could just imagine what that would have been like... Our local Chinese would have absolutely loved us with the 11 meals plus starters that we ordered! The box our delivery can in was massive! Nobody could finish their food so that's tomorrow night's dinner sorted. After dinner we had a mini Christmas quiz which became very competitive very quickly (so not my fault). My team did have very, very competitive people on it which is probably why we won. As the cadets are only young the Christmas party ended around 21:30 which was a shame because of how much fun we were having, there was about 30 minutes worth of cleaning up to do though so it was probably just as well it finished quite early. After the cadets had all went home and all the mess was cleaned up, what better way to end the night than sitting with crisps and juice, watching Casualty? No alcohol, no pubs  or clubs, just sitting with junk food and a medical drama, that's how us first aiders role and i definitely prefer that.

Tonight was such a great night and I am really glad that the football match that was scheduled for the early afternoon was cancelled and allowed us to make everything perfect for the party instead of first aiding in the rain. Everyone had a really good time and looking forward to Christmas even more now. 

Today in my advent calendar I got a little pram with a little baby doll, it's adorable and I got to build the pram! Thanks for reading my 5th day of blogmas and come back tomorrow for day 6! (Spoiler - I may or may not be going shopping).

xxx