Category Archives: Christmas

Christmas, Twixmas and New Year

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I had every intention of blogging about my Christmas prep several weeks ago.

Because this year, I was ridiculously prepared.

The tree was up and decorated by the first weekend of December. It looked as drunk as ever, with additional decorations from Fortnum & Mason after our recent Christmas trip, and a Jellycat Pear from my mum that looked a bit testicle-esque, which then was referred to as a ‘festicle’ for the rest of the month. I also added a tree topper after watching – a picture of Michelle Pfeiffer as Stephanie Zinone from Grease 2 that I stuck onto a piece of card and perched it precariously at the top. If you know, you know. 

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A Festive Weekend in London

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At the end of November, The Bloke and I spent a weekend in London that doubled as a birthday trip. It was quite a last-minute decision, prompted by spotting that the weather on one particular day was forecast to be bright and sunny, amidst what had been weeks of grey and rain. 

We initially arrived with very little in the way of a fixed plan, beyond a general intention to seek out the Christmas decorations and enjoy being in the city at this time of year. We went to see the mini Diagon Alley shop at King’s Cross, saw the incredible frontage of Annabel’s, wandered around all of the main department stores, checking out the window displays (the Disney-themed windows at Selfridges were fabulous), treated ourselves to a Christmas decoration and some macarons from Fortnum & Mason, wandered through some of the Christmas markets (indulging in a Christmas Yorkshire pudding wrap along the way), and said hello to the new Bridget Jones statue that has just been unveiled in Leicester Square. 

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A Cracking Christmas 

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I think 2024 was the first year since I started blogging over a decade ago that I didn’t post something before Christmas. 

Yes, I was busy – December is often one of the busiest points of the year as both my clients and I take some time off over the festive season, so essentially a month’s worth of work needs to be done, approved and scheduled in advance in less than three weeks. Additionally, regardless of how organised I try to be, there are ALWAYS extra things that appear – company Christmas parties and events (the week before Christmas I was in London for two days filming several events with a client), Christmas and New Year video messages from different teams etc. I genuinely enjoy it – this time of year is always perfect for creating lots of fun and joyful content, but it doesn’t necessarily allow for personal Christmas prep time, (despite my declarations in November that this year would be different).

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I Hear Sleigh Bells

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Christmas. It may be early November, but the sleigh bells have started on the TV adverts, the stores are already heavily into their festive marketing strategy, and I’m getting messages from family asking what I would like as a gift.

For the last few years, Christmas has followed a similar pattern. I start the month of December with the concept that I want to make this year the best Christmas ever, and then I get slammed with work as everyone starts freaking out and needing ALL THE THINGS NOW NOW NOW as everyone, including myself, is taking a little bit of time off. Inevitably, by the time it gets to a few days before Christmas I’m fed up and exhausted, and I’m not in the mood.

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A Basic Christmas

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“At the beginning of December I’m going to go all out with the Christmas decorations,” I said to The Bloke last month. 

We’re moving house at the beginning of January and so it is going to be the last Christmas we have here. I had every intention of making a huge effort – Christmas over the last few years has been haphazard and last-minute and both The Bloke and I have felt like we’ve just gone through the motions rather than actually feeling festive and celebrating. 

And then at the beginning of December I got covid. I’ve been pretty careful at trying to stay as safe as possible, but I met up with a friend at the end of November and must have picked it up on the bus on the way home – there were lots of people coughing and spluttering and because it was minus temperatures all the windows were closed. 

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Christmas Burnout

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Usually in the build up to Christmas I post at least something about getting ready for the festive season, what I plan to watch and comments about our wonky tree (that is now so ancient I’ve started to refer to it as ‘Old Faithful’). 

This year, however, I was whacked by all the flu and cold germs flying around and my body semi-shut down and went NOPE for several weeks. I know exactly where it came from too – in early December a woman who had a raging cold sat next to me on a train when I went up north to visit my mum and for the entirety of the trip she was coughing and spluttering and wiping her nose on her sleeve. I started to feel ill about four days later. Nice. 

Combined with the fact that I had been caught in multiple downpours and the freezing temperatures that hit the UK, I also think that I was burnt out. The last few months in particular have been ridiculously busy and I haven’t been great at taking care of myself. In a way, it felt like the universe was stepping in and telling me to rest. 

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A Last – Minute Christmas

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I look forward to Christmas every year. Since we got married (can you believe that was over four years ago already??!) The Bloke and I spend Christmas at home, visiting family and friends in the weeks before (although last year we weren’t able to do that). We have developed a bit of a routine and traditions – when we buy presents and send cards, when and how we decorate, when we go food shopping etc. Usually by now everything would be done and ready to go well in advance – the cupboards would be full, presents would be wrapped, our Christmas watchlist would have been planned to the nth degree to avoid missing any of the Christmas specials, The Bloke would have braved Marks and Spencer to grab a pre-rolled turkey and stuffing (there’s only two of us and there’s no way I’m spending half my Christmas Day cooking a massive frozen turkey that will go to waste) and I would have posted on the blog several times about how drunk the tree looks etc.

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A Belated Merry Christmas

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For me, Christmas dinner represents everything about the festive season perfectly. Several weeks of planning, shopping for the ingredients, a few hours of prep followed by the whole cooking with different temperatures and timing debacle… and it’s all done and finished in seemingly the blink of an eye, leaving behind an epic amount of washing up and a personal vow never to eat that much in one sitting again.

Christmas was awesome, but was over far too quickly.

Despite the minor panic in the last few days leading up to it, I somehow managed to end the day before Christmas Eve with a full fridge, wrapped presents and some clean laundry. The Bloke and I stayed at home for the third year in a row, and we decided that we would have a much more relaxed approach to the holiday, spending most of the time on the couch with the cat (who had a rather fetching new hat that he was obviously delighted with) on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and popping in to feed Paddy (my friend’s bunny that hates me). Continue reading →

Very Busy, But Apparently Doing Very Little…

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A few years ago The Bloke and I were spending our first Christmas together at home as a married couple. I was beyond excited – normally we celebrated our own Christmas together a few days early, then would travel up north to be with our individual families (mine live in Bolton and his are in Sheffield) and on Boxing Day he would drive across the Pennines and meet me, where we would then drive back down to Birmingham. I spent weeks planning and organising everything – putting up the tree, writing and sending cards and presents, sorting out the food and TV schedule – and by the middle of December everything was pretty much finished, aside from the fresh produce I needed for Christmas dinner. Continue reading →

Lego Destruction, An Exploding Camembert and a Christmas Dinner Record

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I’m serving some ‘food barrel realness’ after consuming more than my entire bodyweight in Toblerone, cheese, crisps, dip, honey roasted peanuts and potatoes over the last few days. I always find it incredulous how quickly the Christmas Eve / Christmas Day period actually goes, especially with the hype and the level of preparation that goes into the weeks (and sometimes, months) leading up to it, and yet it is already over for another year, seemingly in the blink of an eye.

Our Christmas was spent at home with the cat. I had planned our eating and viewing schedule and got most of the food ready in advance, and for the most part, it all went very well.  Continue reading →