Fifteen Festive Favourites






1. Favourite Festive Food

I love a bit of Christmas baking! Has to be chocolate in general. Mince pies are not my thing..



2. Favourite Reindeer

Dancer! I do a lot of awkward and cringe-worthy Christmas dancing in December.



3. Favourite day from the 12 Days of Christmas

10 Maids-a-milking. What else represents Christmas like the sight of a woman milking?



4. Favourite Christmas Song

Train - Shake Up Christmas. Best song hands down. 



5. Favourite Christmas Present

Incredibly grateful for my Yankee Candle in Snowflake Cookie from Andy Pandy last Christmas. I still haven't finished it and it makes my house smell ridiculously sweet.



6. Favourite Christmas Film

Home Alone 1 & 2!



7. Favourite Cracker Toy

Those red 'fortune telling' fish! 



8. Favourite Cracker Joke

What do you get if you mix Santa and a duck? Father Quackmas. What do ducks have to do with Christmas? Who knows.



9. Favourite Christmas Decoration

My little Gingerbread men from Paperchase!



10. Favourite Candle Scent

Apart from Snowflake Cookie, I love Yankee Candle's Salted Caramel.


11. Favourite Christmas Advert
Coca Cola adverts always signify the beginning of Christmas!



12. Favourite Christmas Tradition

New Christmas pjs! Chilling with the family too.



13. Favourite Place to Spend Christmas

At home. Would prefer to have Andy included but it's hard when we live 75 miles away. We plan to spend it together next Christmas seeing both families though!



14. Favourite Christmas Fact

Santa or Father Christmas was derived from St Nicholas/Sinterklaas and has so many different names and duties all over the World. My fave names have to be Weihnachtsmann (Christmas Man in German).



15. Favourite Snowman Accessory

A little scarf to keep him warm? Cool? What?


That's all for now! Hope you all enjoy Blogmas if you're doing it!

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10 Tips for Travelling Home for Christmas

Hey Guys,
I'm travelling from Newcastle where I stay during Uni, to Liverpool (my home town). If you're getting a train, I follow my little checklist to make sure I'm travelling stress-free, especially during the festive season. Follow these tips and you can too!


1. Pack your bags well
When travelling home for Christmas, everyone will be rushing and throwing as many things into a bag as possible. Pack wisely with only the things you need, it won't be as heavy to carry!

2. Choose your bags wisely
So many people will take a large suitcase with them and try to cram them all into the luggage compartment on the train. Why not choose 2 small holdalls instead of one large one. You can fit them into the overhead storage without taking too much space.

3. Book tickets in advance
There's nothing worse than getting to the train station on time and seeing a huge queue for the ticket machines. If you book your ticket in advance, you can get tickets posted home, print them out yourself or pick them up from a machine a few hours after you've bought them. If you happen to be near your train station days before your trip, you can pick them up then, meaning less of a rush on the day.

4. Get cheaper tickets
If you book in advance online, you can see the prices of the tickets. This means you can pick the cheapest tickets available to your suitability. Sometimes it is cheaper to buy 2 singles than a return, so buying in advance is a huge life saver. Don't forget, if you have a railcard you can use it to book tickets online, saving about 1/3 of the price too.

5. Get a reservation
Booking as early as possible (usually about 12 weeks in advance) means you can get first picks of the seats. You can choose a normal seat or table seat, and aisle or window seat. I personally always go for a table seat at the window as I do uni work whilst I travel. Having your own reservation means that no matter what, that specific seat is yours for the journey. It means less rush during busy Christmas travelling times as you don't have to scramble to find a free seat, and you don't sit in someone else's reserved seat. I can't got on a train journey without a reservation!

6. Arrive 15-20 minutes early
You're at the station and need to find your platform with 2 minutes until the train leaves. You have to go through the ticket barrier and then onto the platform, which could be a few minutes away. There are loads of people looking to find their train. Then you miss it. Arriving about 20 minutes before my train means that I can grab any drinks/snacks before I leave, and I'm ready to board the train as soon as the doors are open. Christmas time is usually incredibly busy, so allowing yourself as much time as possible to get to your platform is a ticket to stress-free travel.

7. Don't forget to pack your presents
You can't arrive home without the presents you've carefully wrapped and added a sparkly bow to can you? If you have a lot, try to make sure any fragile gifts are in between your warm jumper in your bag to keep them protected. If you plan on taking gift bags home, flat pack them in your luggage and re-pack them into their gift bags at home. You don't want them to be creased on Christmas Day.

8. Grab a hot drink and some food
In most train stations there are usually a variety of little shops like Costa, Starbucks, Pumpkin etc that you can buy a hot drink and some food from. Some trains don't have food trolleys to buy things from, as they don't always have a huge selection. You can get your festive food and hot chocolates from stores in the station and carry them onto the train with you. Just remember to put the rubbish in the bins located on the trains or in the station when you're done.

9. Add Christmas songs to your phone/iPod
The train is loud and you want a peaceful journey back home, ready to see your family and friends. Why not make a playlist filled with your favourite Christmas songs to listen to on the way back. Just don't forget your headphones!

10. Get the National Rail App
No matter where you're travelling, you can track your train journey with this handy app. If there is a delay, you can see even when you're mid way through your journey, how long the delay may be. This is handy if someone is picking you up from the end point station as you can update them with what time to arrive there to greet you. It also sometimes tells you which platform you will get off at, so if you know the train station well, you'll know how long it will take you to get from the platform to the exit. Particularly handy in Liverpool Lime Street Station as there are 3 different sets of platforms (Wirral line, Plat 1-6 enclosed and Plat 7-9 near some shops and the exit).
  
I hope you enjoy these tips! I'll be travelling via First Transpennine Express* this Christmas, where you can find cheaper tickets online. On the home page, you can find their 'best fares' and their student offers which are quite handy. Their destinations include Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Edinburgh, Sheffield, York and many more. This means that you can visit the Manchester Christmas Market with a cheap ticket too!

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Favourite Christmas Songs

Hey Guys,
Hope you're all having a lovely December! I thought I would share my favourite 5 Christmas songs that I've been playing to get me in the mood for the big day!


5. Slade - 'Merry Xmas Everybody'
You always hear this song when you're out Christmas shopping and it always makes me smile. I love an upbeat tune!
4. Boney M - 'Mary's Boy Child'.
 I don't even know what it is about this song that I love. The video however, not so much!
3. Pentatonix ft Tori Kelly - 'Winter Wonderland/Don't Worry Be Happy'
This is such a good mashup and is a bit different to the classic songs.
2. Kelly Clarkson - 'Underneath The Tree'.
Everytime I hear this I wish I had Kelly's voice. I try to sing this with all the power in me, but I don't think people quite appreciate it. 
1. Train - 'Shake Up Christmas'
Hands down, best song to listen to! It's so festive and upbeat.
Hope you all liked my list!
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What's On My Tree

Hey Guys,
This is a post I was so excited to do since I've had my tree up for over a week now! 


Where it's all from:
Tesco: 6ft Tree, Purple Tinsel, Mini Gingerbread men, Pink Bambi, Snowman, Robin, Silver Star, Sequin Bauble

Homesense: Two rose gold baubles

Paperchase: Gingerbread man with moustache, Christmas Pudding, Gold Bambi, Rose gold jinge bells (I made them into decorations)

Disneyland: Two Mickey Mouse Baubles

Paris: Eiffel Tower Decorations

Wilkos: 2014 Decorations

Poundland: Candy Canes

Homemade: Jingle bell decorations, Landy (Laura+Andy) Heart

Yes we already have our presents under the tree, we're excited!

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A Little Christmas Giveaway

Hey Lovelies!

I can't believe it's the first of December already, how quick has time gone! This is my first Christmas as a blogger, and for achieving so much in a short period of time made me realise how thankful I for my people supporting and reading my blog. I am aware it's only a little giveaway, but come February when I have my first blog anniversary, I'm going all out!


You can win:

Soap and Glory 'Flake Away' 
to prep your skin for Winter.

Kiss False Eyelashes in Sexy B 
for flirtatious lashes under the Mistletoe.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
just because he's cute.

Dairy Milk Oreo
Biscuits and chocolate at the same time!

Quality Street 
to share with your friends and family, or to just eat by yourself!

Champney's Spa Indulgence 'Oriental Opulence Bubble Heaven' 
to have a relaxing soak in the bath.

Sienna X Instant Glitz Cracker* 
as a glittery stocking filler.

Snowy Christmas Nails 
to add a little sparkle!

Exfoliating gloves 
to use before you tan.

Seventeen Lipgloss 
for that festive kiss.

Penguin Nails 
to add a bit of adorableness to Christmas.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This is a UK only giveaway.

I hope you all enjoy, and have a Happy Christmas!


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Winter Hot Chocolates - Gü

Hey Guys,

Happy Blogmas!
Bit of a random post but I bought these in Waitrose in October and November and instantly fell in love, so just wanted to write a little post about them! You've probably heard of Gü, and they make lovely desserts. As I was wandering through an aisle I saw these and picked up the Salted Caramel Flavour Hot Chocolate and took it home to try. It was the right balance between the salted caramel and chocolate. It was thick (almost like flavoured milk) and incredibly easy to make. The next month I picked up the plain Hot Chocolate version.





I served them differently here, but just wanted to emphasize how lovely they look! These tall milkshake glasses were £1 each from Poundland, and the huge mug (this picture doesn't do it justice on how large it is) was £8 from Marks & Spencer's.

I added some light squirty cream and some mini marshmallows. It makes a huge difference using the Gü hot chocolates compared to getting a powder and mixing it into milk. The texture is so smooth and you can drink them cold if you'd like. You can also add a dash of Disaronno to plain hot chocolate for a marzipan tasting drink.

Let me know in the comments what your fave hot chocolate is, I'd love to do another post on winter drinks!

Don't forget to enter my Christmas Giveaway! (here) 
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