25 DAYS OF BLOGGING CHRISTMAS- DAY 7- DECEMBER 7TH- CHRISTMAS MUST-HAVES

I apologise that this is going up slightly later but blogging every day is HARD. Sorry.

We're officially a week into December, YAY! If you haven't already realised I'm a big fan of making lists so here is my list of things you must have around Christmas:

1. Cute wrapping paper- this year I decided to change it up a bit and get my own wrapping paper instead of sharing with my family, cute wrapping paper is a must plus ribbons and stickers can be added for a more personal touch to a present.
W H Smith wrapping paper rolls- £5.99 for two rolls.

2. Fairy lights- these are pretty self explanatory at Christmas, I absolutely love mine, I bought them quite a few years ago from a garden centre.
Price unknown.

3. Slippers- I have probably the best slippers in the world, they are from Holland but you can buy them on Amazon.
Probably around £10 or slightly over.

4. Slipper socks- For those who like warm feet in bed or find slippers too awkward.
Topshop a few years ago- £6.

And now for the traditionals:

5. Christmas music-need I say more for an evening wrapping presents?

6. Fires- REAL fires in the evening, can't get more festive than that really.

25 DAYS OF BLOGGING CHRISTMAS- DAY 6 | DECEMBER 6TH- CHRISTMAS SMELLS 1

This is a weird thing to think about but one thing I have noticed about Christmas is that it smells better than any other time of the year. Despite the weirdness of this idea, it cannot be argued with once pointed out:

1. Christmas Trees- we always get a real tree and they smell amazing, they smell so fresh and wonderful. The smell of a Christmas tree is the iconic smell of Christmas.

2. Bread Sauce- the my favourite smell in all the world. It's boiling milk with onions and cloves but it smells so good and obviously tastes amazing.

3. Christingles- I will elaborate on this later in the month (probably Christmas Eve to be precise) but it's basically an orange with cloves stuck in it and it smells fab (there is a cloves theme going on here).

4. Fires- It's not the actually fire itself that smells great it's the aftermath where your coat and scarf smells all smokey and woody for the next few days, it is a very comforting smell.

25 DAYS OF BLOGGING CHRISTMAS- DAY 5 | DECEMBER 5TH- CHRISTMAS FILMS

I'm sick today so it was my Mother's great suggestion that I watch Christmas movies for the whole day. Genius. Here I have compiled a list of the top three greatest Christmas movies of all time:

1. Muppet Christmas Carol-
This has got to be one of my all time favourite films ever I just love it so much I make everyone I know watch it at least one in their life, George and I watched it four times last Christmas which is still not enough. Plus the original book is so good and you can imagine the Muppets while you read it.

2. Love Actually-
Absolute classic, fantastic cast, you can never go wrong with this one; my favourite storyline is the Liam Neeson one.

3. When Harry Met Sally-
Not strictly a Christmas film apart from the Christmas scenes but every single year my mother and I watch it whilst wrapping presents so tradition has given it a very Christmasy vibe for me.

25 DAYS OF BLOGGING CHRISTMAS- DAY 4 | DECEMBER 4TH- FAVOURITES

I have tried out quite a lot of new products in the past couple of months but not enough that I liked and wanted to put in a favourites post so here they are combined!

1. Barry M Gelly Nail Paint in Plum- I put the nude version of this called Lychee in my September favourites post and I have (and will) spoken about it a lot recently but the colour is an absolutely gorgeous dark plum colour that looks black in certain lights but it is my dream purple that I have been searching for for ages and I just love it.

2. Accessorize lipstick in Infatuated- This is a product that I have been raving about even more than the previous one but I just love it sososososo much and I don't think I will ever be able to get over just how lovely it is.

(I think the photos of these first two products are already some of my most used photos...)

3. Simple Kind To Skin Cleansing Facial Wipes- probably the best make up wipes I have ever used and currently on offer in Superdrug.

4. Vaseline Rosy Lips- I have never paid that much attention to Vaseline before as it has always seemed quite boring to me but I am just in love with Rosy Lips it gives the most gorgeous pink tint to your lips whilst curing them of all chapped-ness (plus it has the same name as me, what's not to love!?).

5. MUA Palette in Heaven and Earth- beautiful colours, perfect palette, overall in love with it.

 

6. Hunger Games Catching Fire- this film is absolutely amazing and everyone NEEDS to see it, the books are fantastic and the film is exactly like them, the arena is perfect and the cast is beautiful and I want to watch it all day every day (Catching Fire calendar for Christmas please thank you) ARGH.

25 DAYS OF BLOGGING CHRISTMAS- DAY 3 | DECEMBER 3RD- ADVENT CALENDARS

It's December the 3rd and now we are well and truly into the Christmas spirit and advent calendars and such larks. Every Christmas George and I get the normal chocolate calendar but also a Lego one. 'What is a Lego advent calendar?' I hear you cry. Well, dearest people, it is an advent calendar where you build something Lego everyday. Easy as pie, really. George and I have had some stunningly strange Lego calendars in the past, favourites including Star Wars, Pirates, Medieval larks and many more that I currently can't remember. This year is no exception to the Lego calendar rule(? there is no rule) and we have another lovely Star Wars one (I am waiting until they make a Harry Potter one and it breaks my heart every year that they haven't yet).

The chocolate one we get is probably something that you don't really care about but it is Divine fairtrade chocolate and it is the nicest chocolate I have ever had. Divine does the nicest creamiest chocolate in a variety of amazing flavours that you can buy in Oxfam or Waitrose, but the advent calendars come in milk chocolate (which is the best milk chocolate in the world) and are available from Oxfam. These advent calendars are not the cheapest, but then neither are the Thorntons ones, but it is fairtrade which is a super duper good thing and they taste the best over any other chocolate.

Absolutely awful quality photo I am so sorry

The only thing I must fault the Divine calendars with is that they have the same version of the Christmas story on the same doors every single year and it has got to the stage where George and I can quote it from memory (that and this year is the first year that they have actually changed what the calendar looks like). Other than that I cannot fault it, Christmas is seeming scarily close right now and I haven't done any shopping yet...

25 DAYS OF BLOGGING CHRISTMAS- DAY 2 | DECEMBER 2ND- WINTERLISCIOUS TAG

I thought we'd start off the 25 Days of Blogging Christmas with a post to get us feeling all nice and Christmasy. I got the Winterliscious Tag from Sprinkle Of Glitter's Youtube from Christmas 2012 but I thought it was such a nice idea and the questions are fabby, so here we go:

1. Favourite winter nail polish?
Barry M Gelly Nail Paint in Plum- an absolutely gorgeous purple colour and, as I have stressed before, it doesn't chip! It comes out as a beautiful really dark purple with two coats and I can see myself wearing it through the majority of December. Highly recommend their whole gelly range but Mr Barry M please please please please bring out a black in this range please.

2. Favourite winter lip product?
This was featured in my autumn tag and will probably be in many more favourites but I am absolutely in love with the Accessorize lipstick in Infatuated and it is the best lipstick ever ever ever and I just love it so much. Sorry about that.

3. Most worn winter clothing piece?
It has to be my tartan coat from H&M last winter, it is beautiful and I probably would have frozen to death without it (this November has been ridiculously cold and I am living in fear over what the cold might become in December).

4. Most worn winter accessory?
Last year I got a chunky knit, blue bobble hat from Accessorize and I just love it so much that I want another one this year (possibly in moss green?) the only downside to this hat is I can't wear it to school as it gives you the worlds worst hat hair.

5. Favourite winter scent/ candle?
The Yankee candle Christmas collection all smells amazing and I will expand on this later in the month but you can also never go wrong with a vanilla candle in the winter.

6. Favourite winter beverage?
Anything from the Costa Christmas range (yes, I know I have a problem) or Wispa hot chocolate.

7. All time favourite Christmas/ holiday movie?
My favourite Christmas movie is probably Muppet's Christmas Carol because it has no faults and I recommend it highly to everyone as it is just so brilliant (I am getting all fuzzy just writing about it).

8. Favourite Christmas/ holiday song?
This was a near impossible question and I spent a long time consulting the Christmas CD before answering this but I'm going to have to go for Step Into Christmas by Elton John because it's such a feel good song and the Fairy Tale of New York by the Pouges because it is a classic and so unbelievably fun to sing/ yell along to at the top of your voice with friends and family (also it has some absolutely brilliant lyrics). You can also never go wrong with yelling along to Band Aid Do They Know It's Christmas or The Twelve Days of Christmas, I DON'T KNOW I LOVE THEM ALL. (I feel super bad for not choosing Slade or Wizzard or John and Yoko or Paul McCartney but I can't decide between them).

9. Favourite holiday food/ treat?
Soup. Ohmigod soup. Soup has got to be the greatest creation ever I could live off soup.

10. What is your favourite Christmas decoration this year?
Every year we get a new random Christmas tree decoration from somewhere we've been that year and this year's one is this lovely one from Disney Land in Florida (they have their own Christmas shop there and it is amazing). My all time favourite, though, has got to be William Shakespeare because it is just so weird.
My apologises I currently cannot find the new decoration to take a picture of.

11. What's at the top of your Christmas list?
Probably Finnick Odair (or the actor Sam Claflin, whichever one of them really) from the Hunger Games Catching Fire (which is absolutely amazing if you haven't seen it already and the books are even better). I would like him wrapped up in a box under my tree in a suit come the 25th please thank you Father Christmas that would be wonderful.

12. What are your plans for the holidays this year?
Thankfully this Christmas promises to be much calmer than last year when we tried to get the entire family together and everyone ended up bitching about each other in between watching Pokémon movies. This year will be back to normal with my Grandma coming over on Christmas eve, then seeing the family on the 27th for George's birthday (what an awkward date to have it) and then going up to see the rest of the family in the North. Simples. (Judged if you didn't read that in a meerkat voice).

*NOTE: Some of the things I've mention only briefly here because I will be talking about them more in later posts*

25 DAYS OF BLOGGING CHRISTMAS- DAY 1 | DECEMBER 1ST- THE CHRISTMAS BOX

Sorry for awful quality photos

Christmas is by far my favourite time for the year, I have been counting down the days since September (sad), and every year everyone on Youtube does the 12 days of Christmas but that doesn't start until 26th December and what's the fun in that when Christmas is already over? So for that reason this Christmas I am going to do a post everyday (hopefully!) for the 25 days leading up to Christmas starting on the 1st December (today if you were unaware of the date!).

So merry December 1st everyone, I trust you all enjoyed opening the first door of your advent calendar- some may say that the novelty of advent calendars wears off after the first week or so, but what's not to love about having a little choccy for breakfast every day?!
Luckily for my household the 1st of December falls on a Sunday this year, which means my father has no excuse not to go up into the loft and get down the Christmas boxes. The Christmas boxes are two very old Lakeland cardboard boxes that have all the Christmas tree decorations in one box, and all our childhood Christmas toys and books in another. Opening the Christmas boxes has got to be one of the most exciting things of the year so I thought I'd give you a run-through of my favourite things in the box:

-The big Christmas CD- this has got to be the greatest Christmas album of all time and yet I don't know anyone else who has the same one, we play this religiously every single morning while we have breakfast and then in the evenings as well when it gets nearer to the big day and we need something festive while we make paper chains.

-The Father Christmas twins- George and I got these when we were very young (around the age 2 mark I think?) and they are the best thing about the Christmas box (weirdly they are from boots).

-William Shakespeare tree decoration- every year my family gets a new decoration from somewhere we've been in the year and Shakespeare has got to be the weirdest yet, this years decoration is from Disneyland. (Side note- in Disneyland there is a whole Christmas shop where I wanted to get festive Mary Poppins but apparently I wasn't allowed to choose as punishment for falling over and breaking the tin carrot from the Christmas tree).

-The Christmas fuzzy-felt, you are never too old for fuzzy felt and every year George and I spend hours making different designs (I like the indoor scene better so he always has to do the boring outside one because I am older and I say so), these are last years designs- we also created the Christmas-fuzzy-felt-massacre scene... Charming...
-Holly the Christmas Fairy and Stella the Star Fairy Rainbow Magic books- I read these every year because these books were my childhood and they make me feel all Christmasy and happy.
Other items of the box include carol singing SpongeBob and Patrick from the 10 year old SpongeBob Squarepants obsessed days and the penguin fairy lights from the (also) 10 year old penguin obsessed days.

Merry Christmas everybody, and away we go!

(Only 24 days until Christmas!)

(I'll let you in on a little secret- I came up with this idea at the end of September and I got so excited that I wrote this post right there and then- shush I am sad, I know...)