Love Actually viewing is mandatory
Merry Christmas you lot! I must admit that it felt a little strange to post on a day that I don’t think I ever previously have before, but with the timing of the Christmas Vlogs, the final upload fell on the big day and so I thought I’d pop it up anyway as I know there are some of you who don’t celebrate Christmas Day. Big love to you lot – hope you’re enjoying the festive period and taking some well-deserved time off! And to those of you that do celebrate and are checking-in on this at a later date, I hope you had a good one full of plenty of stuffing, laughs and elasticated waistbands.
So here it is – the final Christmas Vlog. Scroll down below to see the latest and last vlog of the year. Mark and I headed up to Birmingham to spend the first part of Christmas Day up here, before driving to Brighton for dinner; so the vlog is a bit of a quickie one, but there’s still plenty of festive flavour. In fact, I’ve really enjoyed putting these videos together and hope to do more vlogs in the new year. Holler if you’d like to see that.
In the meantime I thought I’d share some things that I’m hoping to do with friends and family over the next couple of days as most people I know have a wee bit of time off which is lovely. If I can get these things in, along with a couple of evenings of drinking Bailey’s and watching old Alan Partridge episodes, then I’ll be one happy chappy… Have a good one all!
Films and faux fur. In the Christmas break I love to get in a day of doing sweet F.A. It’s lovely. It’s not often that we literally do nothing, so I’m mentally scheduling in a day where I refuse to move from the sofa. I’m going to hibernate under my faux fur, with the remnants of a selection box and plan to watch Love Actually and Elf (two of my favourite films EVER – the former I cry at from about halfway and the latter I know all the words to), along with Sam & Nic’s Hollywood Icons that I’ve been saving up to watch on a real lazy day occasion.
A long walk. I love a good walk. Whether it’s a wind-beaten one along the seafront, or a muddy-puddle obstacle course up a countryside track – I’m always down for a wander with Mark, my parents and my sister. I grew up on camping holidays featuring long-old walks from a very young age and so there’s something nice about us reliving those days, putting away our phones and having a chat as we amble along to a nice pub for a roast. I spend the whole time trying to convince my parents to get a dog to take on walks with them and failing horrendously.
Bake-A-Thon. Cooking and baking is my therapy. I’m well and truly my Mother’s daughter. Aside from rustling up some family classics, I do love to get some Chocolate Orange Cookies in the oven, or even some Mince Pies before all things festive get packed away until next year. If you’re all out of ideas though, I’d say you can’t go wrong with any recipes from BBC Good Food. Always simple and for me, anything I’ve ever made from there has always turned out really well. My latest finds are the Fish Tagine with Saffron and Almonds and Seeded Flatbreads. Both were delicious.
Be a tourist. Back in the day when Mark and I would head to our respective hometowns for Christmas, he’d always come at visit me between then and New Year and we’d spend the day in Brighton being tourists. I mean really I was showing him all the good bits in the hope that he’d want to come and live here one day (MISSION ACCOMPLISHED). We always had such a good time though and actually those couple of days tend to be pretty empty in town (if you avoid the main shopping areas) and so this year I hope we can find a day to wander around, play on the Pier, eat some greasy fish and chips and drink overpriced mulled wine on the seafront.
Sort shiz out. Ah-ha! Saving the best bit till last. I jest (sort of), but I do enjoy spending the end of the year clearing out, tidying up, planning and just generally getting ready to turn over a new leaf for the New Year. It’s that time where we pop our heads up into the loft, realise that everything has multiplied itself by a thousand and get rid of some things and go through that crap-filled cupboard in the kitchen that everyone has and just do all those ‘ewww’ jobs that you can’t bring yourself to do on a normal weekend. I stick on a Jess Lively podcast and get down to it.
Happy holidays all! Have a good one and see you tomorrow with the best of the Boxing Day buys…
Photos by Lauren Shipley
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