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

Getting the Dogs Ready for Christmas

Once I had finished decorating my room yesterday, I had to put all the empty boxes back up the loft - there is always tiding to do. Whilst I was up there I had a good rummage around to see if there was anything from past Christmases that would be good or funny to write about. A couple of things did bring back memories and funny moments but I'll save that for another day.

Whilst I was up there, I found the dogs advent calendars that we'd bought for them and had been looking everywhere for! I also found the two little jumpers that we had also bought for them. I know a lot of people had clothing on dogs but this is purely to keep them warm, I mean today it dropped to -4, I think the jumpers were necessary. At first I thought Buttons (my oldest dog and a brown Labrador) would be the one to make all the fuss about wearing a jumper since she fusses about everything on her, even her collar but when I put the jumper on her she was fine. It looked like she even liked having it on. Millie on the other hand, took a little while getting used to the jumper and I thought she would be the one to fuss the least since she is a very clumsy and daft dog (my youngest dog, a black Labrador).

They both looked really cute and the jumpers did keep them warmer, at least until the heating kicked in. I definitely think if Millie had a larger size that was a little bit of a better fit for her she would have liked it a whole lot better, so she could be getting a new one if she really doesn't like this one. It took my dad a while to warm up to the idea of our dogs wearing jumpers but he eventually came round when Millie's fur was cold when he stroked her. It is my brother that is still warming up to the idea now.

The dogs now have their jumpers and advent calendars after we looked for them everywhere, they also already have doggy stockings, new fluffy beds and red blankets. They are all set for Christmas just like me, and yes, I am one of those people who gets their dogs a new toy for their Christmas, they've got to get a wee present too! Speaking of which I got a little angel in my advent calendar today and it's 12 days until Christmas!

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

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