Watching Mulan & Getting to Spend Hogmany in Edinburgh

So the Disney movie Mulan was released in 1998, I am nearly twenty one years of age and I have only just seen it. I genuinely wasn't sure if I would like it but it turned out that I really, really did and I might have already ordered my own copy on Amazon too.

So after our previous (pathetic) attempt at a Criminal Minds day, we still had a good few episodes left to watch. Laura and I decided to go ahead and have a second attempt at a Criminal Minds day. We did catch up on all the released Criminal Minds episodes which ended up being all the ones missing Dr Spencer Reid (Laura's fav), it definitely pained Laura to watch without him but at least those episodes are over with now. After we caught up, we decided to watch some Disney films. We ended up only watching one and I knew from the moment we decided to watch a Disney film that I was never, ever getting an option in the movie picking; it was going to be Mulan. Mulan is Laura's favourite and she's been nagging at me for well over a year to watch it and the moment finally arrived. I actually really enjoyed it, mostly because of Mushu the tiny dragon, I definitely need one of him in my life, especially when he is voiced by Eddie Murphy! When Eddie Murphy voices a character, you automatically know the character is going to be amazing and funny. and I probably would've watched the film sooner if I knew he was one of the main characters. To say that Laura was smug when I said I really liked the film is a complete understatement!

Tomorrow is the last day in 2015, I know, it's crazy! I didn't have anything planned for Hogmany, just staying in with the family and celebrating together. I did want to assist in providing First Aid cover at the street party in Edinburgh because I love being a First Aider, especially at massive events but my mum wasn't too keen. I have mentioned a couple of times how much I miss being a First Aider at T in the Park and how I have been jumping at the chances for anything similar, like Calvin Harris or other concerts. This street party would've been as close as I probably could have gotten until T in the Park 2016 and after a lot of convincing and promising to text every hour, my mum is finally okay with me going! I am so beyond excited, the atmosphere is going to be amazing and with a predicted crowd figure of over 100,000, I am bound to be kept busy, which is what I like the most.

I am over the moon to be attending Edinburgh's street party as a First Aider and cannot wait to bring the New Year in doing what I love most with some of the best people I know. My post tomorrow will probably be up a little earlier because I'll be in Edinburgh but there will definitely be one, I just can't be missing the very last day of blogging in December, not after blogging every single other day. Something tells me there will be a little bit of reminiscing in tomorrows post.

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

Christmas Over the Years

We managed to get everything we need for Christmas dinner and it's also Christmas Eve Eve! There is no better way to spend Christmas Eve Eve and Christmas Eve than to watch countless Christmas films. By the time we got back from Tesco's and Morrison's, it was already about 2pm so most of the day had gone but I still managed to watch a few Christmas films and a documentary about penguins. I watched Jingle All The Way, The Santa Clause and Elf. Each film brought back memories, especially Jingle All The Way and The Santa Clause as we used to watch them as a family every single year when I was young.

I have a really good memory which means I have a lot of Christmas memories. From playing Angel Gabriel in the Nativity way back in primary school to waiting up as late as possible for Santa and having some presents that were taller than me at the time.

I loved playing Angel Gabriel, I felt really special and included for once. Although my tinsel gave me a rash and my wings appeared to be on upside down, I still loved every single moment of rehearsal's and the final performance. I have some great memories from Christmas but also some weird ones as well. For example, my brothers first Christmas, my parents had bought me a present from him and I was absolutely beyond terrified to open it. I have no idea why I was so scared but I refused to open it all day, I was convinced he was trying to hurt me despite only being eleven months old. My mum tried to convince me to open it so many times during the day but I refused and in the end she had to open the present, it was only a Donald Duck stuffed toy. 

Another year I received a baby doll with a pram, cot and high chair. I was immediately obsessed - baby came first no matter what. I couldn't eat before she did and I wasn't allowed to go to sleep until she'd had a bath and been read a story. The blue stuffed toy that I'm holding in the picture below was actually a present for my brother. Still to this day I have no idea what it is but at the time I couldn't put it down all day, I think it's stomach vibrated or something like that.

Another year, I got so many dress up outfits that I was barely in the same thing for more than an hour! My favourite memory though has got to be the year I received a lot of Teletubby merchandise. There was an indoor house, a table and chairs, beanie baby Teletubbies and Teletubby leggings (my mother had a great fashion sense). I didn't come out of that Teletubby house for days! I ate, slept and even watched TV from that thing - wearing my leggings of course. 

An umbrella is something that a child would normally be unhappy with on Christmas, often preferring a doll or action figure or a teddy bear. Not me though and certainly not if the umbrella was a Teletubby one. After my mum eventually convinced me to sleep in my bed and not the house, I would climb out after she'd left the room, get all my Teletubby beanies, umbrella and sometimes other teddies as well and then I'd surround myself with them all and put the umbrella up over us. I did this every single night for weeks! I'm quite sad that I don't have any of the Teletubby toys from when I was younger, not even the beanie babies because I would've loved to have kept them for my kids, like I have done with some of my other old toys.

Looking back on pictures like these makes me incredibly nostalgic. I cannot wait to experience all the good things about Christmas with my kids in the future. We will have all our little traditions like watching the Polar Express and The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, getting new pyjamas to watch them in and playing boardgames on Christmas Day.  They will have a fun advent calendar to share and chocolate one each, that way they will get little toys each day too and build up a scene. Like a small toy car which was in mine today, one more day and the workshop scene will be complete! I am very excited that tomorrow is Christmas Eve, I have a pile of Christmas films to work my way through, Pringles to eat and lots of cups of tea to drink. I hope you guys all relax and do the same!

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

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

Criminal Minds Fail and Exchanging Gifts

A build up of six or seven Criminal Minds episodes is a good place to start for a Criminal Minds Day. Well unless you sleep in until 16.35pm that is, which is exactly what I did. The plan was to start the Criminal Minds session at around three and catch up with all the episodes, exchange gifts and watch How to Get Away With Murder but I didn't wake up, it was a complete fail. I woke up to about five messages from Laura. My favourite was "You better not still be asleep in bed", am I that predictable? Nonetheless the night ended up pretty good.

I can always count on Laura for a pretty book and this year I got two! She already has the Harry Potter Illustrated Edition and a good half an hour was spent in awe over how pretty it is, so she got me one for Christmas too and I love it. As you know from my blog post about Christmas films, The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus is one of my all-time favourites. I knew it was based on a book written by the same author of The Wizard of OZ but I had never really thought to actually buy it but wow this version is very adorable and extremely Christmasy. By the looks of it, the film adaptation is pretty much the same so when I read the book, it is going to be just as cute as the film. This will be one to read to my future kids everey Christmas I think. So that's another two pretty books to add to my growing collection and I love them both!

When we eventually got organised and started watching Criminal Minds, it was about five o'clock so we had a lot to watch. In the end we only watched three episodes and then one of How to Get Away With Murder but we did reach the most important episode... JJ's return. I have been waiting for this episode for a painful length of time. I was even watching loads of old episodes with JJ in them to compensate not having her. It was definitely worth the wait though. I love how her on-screen sons are her actual sons because all the family photos used on the show are 100% genuine and make my heart melt every time.

We never managed to catch up with Criminal Minds but at least we finally watched JJ's return which makes sleeping most of the day away okay. Well I did tidy my room, get ready, wrap a bunch of presents and fix my make up in an hour when normally I'd take all day to do that so that counts for something too! Since Laura was over, we both opened my advent calendar and honestly, neither of us had any clue what the little figures were. We made out a little backpack and that was about it! I loved my Christmas gifts from her as I always do and I hope she liked mine. This was the first time we both gave each other something Harry Potter related, it was weird, but definitely good cause the book is so damn pretty. 

We still have a good four or five episodes of Criminal Minds to watch but since we are both finished uni for Christmas that'll be done in no time, right now I think our main priority is How to Get Away With Murder, that show is just getting too intense! I have nothing planned for tomorrow, just a few errands, so I think I will upload my Winter Essentials instead, I hope you like them.

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

Christmas House and a Yog Nog Bath

It's two weeks until Christmas! I also officially completed my last assignment of this uni semester today but that's not as exciting, although I am now free until the middle of January! I was super tired traveling to uni this morning (certainly not going to miss that for a while) having being at the Def Leppard concert last night and I had a mini exam to do, a lecturer to talk to, assignment results to receive and a couple of bits and bobs to pick up in town before coming home to take the dogs out and then finally relaxing... it was going to be a long day.

The Lush Yog Nog bath I had whilst catching up with vlogmas videos was worth it though. I love the smell of the bath bomb, it's so festive and warm and makes your bath go bright yellow/green! I have been waiting to have a nice, relaxing, lush bath (with candles) for what feels like forever and now that uni is done for a while I have a feeling that my lush bath bomb collection is going to decrease quite quickly!

Another thing I am looking forward to finishing is decorating my house! So far, the tree in the living room is up and decorated, as is the one in the conservatory, all the little fake candles are on windowsills, the wreath is up and some random decorations are placed about the house. We even have tree decorations hanging from every light switch in the house and tinsel around every picture and door. Tomorrow the outdoor lights are being put up and some more window decorations. My room will be fully decorated by tomorrow and I am so excited for it!

 I have only shown a few of the decorations that are up in my house at the moment, purely because there are so much more going up tomorrow and there will certainly be plenty more pictures then! I am super excited to catch up with TV shows, make a start on the rest of the Harry Potter books and finish decorating the house and I won't be changing out of cosy Christmas PJ's for anything or anybody tomorrow, A teeny tiny bike (that I had to build) was waiting for me in my advent calendar today and it's adorable. Now it's time for me to get cosy with a hot water bottle, Christmas PJ's and a cup of tea, thanks for reading day twelve.

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

Stocking Fillers for Girls

I think going through my stocking first thing on Christmas morning is one of my favourite parts of the day because it's all the cute little presents. Whether or not you go traditional with chocolate coins and socks or a gift card and some sweets, these few things that I've got to show you are perfect little stocking fillers that I think every girl would like, and they are all under £10.

Lush is definitely a go to option when it comes to any sort of gifting within my immediate family. My brother is obsessed with Lush and so is my mum. The Christmas  range that Lush has is really good and ranges from simple things like the butterbear - which contains shea butter and has a vanilla smell and is a very moisturising - bath bomb, to the five gold rings that are extremely glittery and are bubble bars. I am not a fan of the really glitter products myself but pretty much everything else is a winner in my book. Wrapping one or more of these products in a clear cellophane bag (tied with a festive ribbon of course) is a great stocking filler and one that will be much appreciated and enjoyed. Lush products range from £2 upwards.

Another beauty item that is a good stocking filler, especially since the weather is getting so cold is hand cream. You could pick absolutely any hand cream to put in a stocking for somebody but here I have pictured the Zoella Wonder Hand because it smells really nice and the packaging is gorgeous and it is only £5.50 for a decent sized tube. Superdrug has a 3 for 2 offer on Zoe's beauty range quite a lot of the time so you could pick up a few things and save a bit of money as well.

If beauty isn't the sort of avenue you want to go down when picking stocking fillers, there are loads of these little copper, gold or silver photo frames becoming increasingly popular. They come in different sizes and can be hanging frames or standing frames. They range from £3 upwards and places like Oliver Bonas and Paperchase stock them. The frames are gorgeous and unique and a perfect gift because the person can put whatever they want inside the frame. I have a standing rose gold frame with a photography image inside it and I love it!

I am one of those people who doesn't want to spend a lot of money on a perfume normally but especially if I'm not even sure if I like it or not. Superdrug have a solution to this, these adorable little miniature sized bottles of Ghost perfume packaged in a gorgeous gold glittered Christmas bauble, they have other versions of the perfume packed like this for Christmas and they are only £5, I am definitely trying my best to get my hands on a few because they are an absolute bargain. 

This stocking filler is a little more on the unusual side but it is adorable nonetheless and if you know anybody who is obsessed with cats (I certainly do) or stationary then this is a cute little gift that they are sure to love. New Look have these cat pens in stock at £3.99 and in a sparkly mint green and a sparkly pink colour. They also have dog pens in stock for the same price which are just as cute.

The last thing I've got to show you is the Real Techniques Mini Must Haves. Real Techniques brushes are great but they can be a little pricey so if you would rather not splash out on one of the bigger single brushes as a stocking filler then these miniature versions of the brushes are great. As soon as I seen them in Superdrug I had to have them and picked up one for me and one for my mum as well. At full price they are £7.99 but are they currently being sold for £5.49 which is a good price for three (albeit mini) brushes that you can take everywhere with you and these would be great for somebody younger who is maybe just getting into make up or starting to show an interest in it.

I hope you enjoyed reading through my suggestions for stocking fillers. Obviously you can't go wrong with fluffy socks, bubble bath, chocolate, sweets and gift vouchers etc but I just thought sharing a few different ideas would be a nice. I certainly am tempted to go and pick up a few more items before Christmas draws nearer, that is if I can still get my hands on them! Before I forget, a little pot with lights is what my advent calendar had for me today. Thanks for reading my Blogmas day 9!

xxx

Gingerbread House Masterpieces

Today has been such an assignment focused day since my last assignment for university is due at midday tomorrow. Despite this, I still did my nana's shopping and went to first aid cadets. Whilst I was wandering around Morrison's I was trying to figure out something fun and festive for the cadets to do since they have been working so hard at learning all the first aid that we teach them. I ended up picking up two gingerbread house making kits from Morrison's and figured I could split them into two teams since there are only six of them and they could make one each. As soon as I showed them the kits later that evening, they instantly got to work. Fast forward 90 minutes and this is what we ended up with.

The detail they put into the little houses was amazing. They had the initiative to use kitchen utensils to get the icing exactly where they wanted, to use mini marshmallows as snow and one group even used a mini milky way as an outdoor bench for their little house! Once one of the teams discovered there was still a packet of mini gingerbread men left that was it, they went full out. Little men putting up lights on the roof, men sitting on the benches and even one sleeping on a little marshmallow bed inside! All of that apparently wasn't enough yet and a Christmas tree and a reindeer were drawn and coloured in to add to the scene. The little houses look great and the kids even cleaned up all the mess they made (that's a first!) They are all really getting into the festive spirit now and can't wait for school to be over and Christmas to come, one of them has already watched Elf three times because she is that excited. I'm getting more excited by the day and once I've finished my assignment and mini exam on Friday I can finally relax and really get into the Christmas spirit!

For tonight though, Redbull is my friend so I can (hopefully) finish this essay but tomorrow I plan to completely finish decorating my room - so it will be extremely festive - and have a lush bath before I start studying for Friday's mini exam (which is going to be hell). Today's advent surprise was small but very cute, I got a little bucket of carrots and hay for the reindeer to have a little munch on. I am really getting into Blogmas and can't wait to post again tomorrow. For now though, it's back to work on the essay (with the Christmas music playing in the background of course!)

xxx

Winter Wishes

The typical things a person wants for the winter season are for it to snow, to have a Christmas where nothing goes wrong, to give and receive gifts, have warm and cosy nights in and watch festive films. Don't get me wrong, I definitely want all of those things too but there are a few things in particular that I would love to do this winter as well (cue the cliche).

I used to be a figure skater when I was younger and even though I rarely get to skate anymore, I still love everything to do with it. I do miss skating so this winter I would quite like to go. Last year I was able to go but not in the way I wanted. Some of the first aiders took the cadets for a Christmas treat but I ended up spending most of the time skating backwards whilst pulling them all round the rink. It was a really good night and the cadets loved it but skating myself would be good too.

Snow. Everybody wants snow during winter and around Christmas, including me. More specifically though I want to go a walk with my dogs in the snow when the air is crisp and dry, not raining and the ground all slushy. My dogs - especially the younger, more daft one - absolutely love the snow and go crazy for it because they can't quite figure out what it is. I love walking my dogs anyways but to be able to walk them on a dry but cold afternoon with a blanket of snow coating the field would be perfect, especially with the two of them jumping and rolling about like little crazy ones.

Christmas is all about food and family. I have a teenage brother so the food aspect always happens but the family aspect, not so much. Yeah he will eat Christmas dinner with us and maybe half of a film but that's about all we get these days. This year it would be perfect if we could all exchange gifts (dogs included), watch all the family and cheesy movies that are playing on TV, have a huge Christmas dinner, play some board games like Monopoly (the Disney version), Jenga, Who Wants to be a Millionaire and the new game my dad is going to get (and love) for Christmas and have a proper family Christmas. I am a sucker for board games but nobody plays them anymore so this Christmas I am going to try my hardest and get some board game action in there.

One of my favourite Christmas scenes is from the first Harry Potter film and it is when Harry and Ron are staying in Hogwarts for Christmas and Harry receives presents much to his dismay. The rooms are just decorated amazingly and the whole scene gives out such a Christmas vibe even though the film has nothing really to do with Christmas. Even so, as soon as we creep into Winter I always find myself wanting to watch and read Harry Potter. I am ashamed to say that I still haven't read all the books - despite owning them all - or seen all the films - because I wanted to read the books first. This winter I will attempt to finish the Harry Potter book series. This is my goal, whether it is realistic or not we shall wait and see. I know one thing for sure, Laura (biggest Harry Potter fan) will be extremely happy if I finish the book series.

The last thing I hope I can do this winter is to see a ballet. I absolutely love ballet. I have never been to any lessons but I wish I had when I was younger because I think I would have been quite good at it. I am too much of a wimp to pursue anything now because I'm nearly 21 and it just seems kind of pointless but I still enjoy watching it. You might have read in my Winter Favourites that I recently started watching Dance Moms (it's AMAZING) and they occasionally perform some ballet routines and this has heightened my desire to see a Ballet performance so I really hope I can fulfill this desire since there is bound to be some Ballet performances this December or January.

Today wasn't a very exciting day so I hope you liked reading about what I want out of this winter instead. Today in my advent calendar I got a sleigh! I had to build it and put all the little stickers on (talk about stressful) and attach the little reindeer I got yesterday to it, it's adorable. Tomorrow I am going to be knuckling down to A LOT of uni work but I have hopefully got something exciting to do later on. Come back tomorrow and see.

xxx