Weekend in Durham Day #2

As I said previously, we were up in Durham the weekend before Christmas visiting Lee's family. We stayed with Lee's dad and stepmam, Mary, so when we woke up on Sunday morning we had breakfast with them and sat chatting with them for a bit. Then Lee's dad Michael had booked us a table at Il Cancello which is an Italian restaurant in Beamish village, near the museum. We hadn't been before but I generally like Italian food, so it was fine by us. 

I can't remember what I had to eat at all, but I know it was nice. It's over a month ago so I really don't remember! After we had finished Lee's dad and stepmam were rushing off somewhere else so we said bye to them and then went back to Lee's mam's house for a bit. It was less crazy there than the day before with just six of us there. It was nice to see them. We didn't set off home very late and we got home quickly. I had a relaxing bath with a festive bath bomb, which was nice!

I've got both outfit photos in this post because my last post was long enough without me adding to it. On Saturday I was wearing a dress from Yours that I've had about a decade. It's black on top and then a mint green skirt with black patterns on the skirt; I love this dress and wear it a lot! 

On Sunday it was a bit more of a casual outfit - I got this top from Sainsburys just before Christmas. It was in the sale so was only a few quid. I like the peach colour and the sparkles. Then I got this cape type jumper from there too. It was great to put on over Christmas, it has a slight sparkle in it. My skirt used to be a dress and I wear it a lot because it's easy to chuck on. 

Oh I was wearing these earrings at the weekend too. I got them off Vinted and I'm not sure I would have bought them if I'd seen them in person first because they are quite big and heavy. Cute though!

Here's the Yours dress I was wearing on the Saturday, I must wear this more

In the restaurant on Sunday with Lee's dad and stepmam

The fog came in while we were in the restaurant, we couldn't see a thing! We got to Lee's mam's safely though

A new peachy top with sparkles and three quarter length sleeves, and a skirt that used to be a dress

And with the caped jumper on top

Weekend in Durham Day #1

As usual, we went up to Durham the weekend before Christmas. I swear it's only about six weeks since I wrote this post for 2024, but nope, the year has passed incredibly quickly and here I am posting about Christmas 2025. I've got quite a lot of posts to catch up on and I'm hoping to do that soon, but I've also been working a lot more so I'm behind. 2026 has already started at a lick but I'll get there!

We set off on Saturday morning, but not early as we were tired and wanted to take it steady. We set off just before 11 I think. The travel was fine, we stopped to pick up coffee, and we got to Lee's mam's house at about 12.45. A lot of people were already there so we just joined in the party! Our friends Paul and Lianne are always invited too, so they came not long after we had arrived. Lee's mam had made vegetable curry and rice and a bunch of other things. What I ate was delicious! 

There were 24 of us in total I think, it was mad. A lot of us ended up upstairs where Lee's youngest brother has a dartboard and karaoke set up and I was talking to Lianne, my sister in law Libby, and Daniel's new girlfriend Macy. We hadn't met her before so that was nice. 

A couple of years ago we started doing Secret Santa for all the adults in the family to simplify things and it works really well, so we swapped presents for that. Lee and I had asked for a new toaster and kettle in a lovely teal blue colour, so we were pleased to get those. I also got a bottle of champagne and a book - Libby was my Santa and so she had chosen well for those! I'm not sure what else Lee got. Lee's mam had also done stockings for all of us which was cute, they had some nice things in! 

Lee's stepdad was making cocktails, I don't even know what they had in them but I kept drinking them all the same. They were nice! I took a million photos with everyone like I do, all my nieces and nephews just put up with me now. I also took a picture of Bev with all her kids. It was a good day! 

We always stay at Lee's dad's over in Chester-le-Street so we headed over there quite late and chatted to them for a bit before bed. 

Sparkly tights and one of my pairs of Dr Marten Chelsea boots which are basically the only things I wear in the winter

Listening to some music on the way up

Buffet spread

And a close up of some of the buns that Gemma had made I think

When I asked Gemma for a photo she wanted to do this Myspace angle...

...but here's the photo I would have taken. Her jumper lit up, it was fun 

Me and Lee's sister Kim and Libby, Andrew's wife. Yes it's a big family! 

Me and one of my nieces, Caitlin

Lee and his brother Chris, they're very similar looking

Another of my nieces, Tillie. I don't always get a photo with her - which is fine, it's totally up to her! - but this year I did. I loved her jumper!

Lianne, Paul's wife. I'm sure she's never sure how she ended up with all of us when she married him, but she did!

Poor Daniel on his own dartboard!

My stocking, Bev had them all hung up her stairs which was cute

Me and Paul

A vodka sunrise I think, no idea but it tasted nice

And something blue. I don't know, but it was definitely blue

Sat around chatting 

And again

My third niece Leah

One of my nephews Bradley, I didn't get the other one but he was there

Here's Bev with all her kids 

And finally one with Lee's stepdad in too!

The Week Before Christmas

I may as well put all these photos into one post as they all happened the week before Christmas. That week is always so busy! On the Wednesday I went to Meadowhall to meet Chloe and Laura. I think I had a meeting first, so it was about twelve when I got there. I met Chloe at one of the cafes in the middle of the mall and I had some kind of festive hot chocolate, I'm not sure what type but it was definitely delicious. 

We didn't wander around very much which I was glad about because I really didn't need to buy any more things that close to Christmas. We went to The Real Greek for lunch where I had one of their meal deal things that come on an afternoon tea stand. I had hummus and flatbread and roast aubergine kebab stuff, and Greek salad. It was lush - I haven't had the aubergine before but it was really nice and I would eat it again. Everyone else enjoyed theirs, too.

We popped into a couple of shops and then we went to Hotel Chocolat for drinks and cake. I was really full so I just had a mint hot chocolate which was lovely as usual. I guess we left each other about 3pm and I came home and relaxed for a few hours. Lee works in the office in Sheffield on Wednesdays so I know I was by myself!

Not long after he got home we went to Penistone Paramount to see It's A Wonderful Life. I've been to the cinema before but Lee hasn't so he was looking forward to going. It's so cute - it still has an old fashioned curtain that is pulled across and they have an interval so you can have a drink or an ice cream. We took sweets so didn't bother, but it's nice to be able to! I have never seen It's A Wonderful Life before although I've seen it parodied a thousand times, and I really liked it. I'm glad we bothered to go!

On Thursday morning I went to Wakefield to meet my friends Stacey and Gemma for brunch. We went to Pemberley's in Lofthouse which Stacey had recommended. It's really nice and fancy inside and the service is good, but the sausages on my veggie breakfast weren't great. They were like veggie sausages were in the 90s! I then went into Wakefield and did a few errands before Lee came to pikc me up. Gemma was borrowing our second car again as we had no need of it over Christmas and she could make use of it. She's done this a few times now and it's never a bother.

Later on I decorated my Christmas cake. I couldn't be bothered making one and our chef at work always makes big trays full and cuts them into bits to sell, so I knew he would have spare and asked him for some. This was definitely big enough for me, my mum, and my stepdad, as Lee doesn't like Christmas cake and I don't like to eat loads. So I had brought it home that week. It already had marzipan and icing on the top, but I bought some white icing and borrowed some snowflake cutters from a friends and covered the cake in lots of snowflakes which were covered in gold glitter. It was simple but looked really cute I think! 

Festive hot chocolate with Chloe just before Lolly arrived

Greek food which is always lovely

Hot chocolate in Hotel Chocolat a bit later

The three of us in the restaurant

Here's Kiki sitting on me as I relaxed, she's such a cute little dot

At the cinema waiting for the curtains to go up

My brunch the next day, I liked it all except the sausages

Pemberley's used to be a pub and then it was a Chinese restaurant for years. It looked nice all decorated for Christmas

Here's Poppy later that day. I promise Katniss is alright too, I just don't have a current photo of her to share!

And here's my cake when I'd done with it

Weekend with Sam and Jac and Others

On the Sunday morning when Sam and Jac were at mine, we went to Holme Coffee House in Penistone for brunch with Jodie. I love Holme Coffee House, the food is great and they have plenty of vegetarian options. They're currently in a small space and you can't book tables, but in February they are moving across the road to somewhere much bigger. I really recommend them if you're in the area! We didn't know if we would have to wait for a table but Jodie got there about 10.35 and got a table for us. The rest of us joined only a bit later. 

I had a cappucino I think and then a sandwich with a vegan sausage, eggs, and avocado, with mushrooms on the side. It was delicious! Then I had a piece of tiffin and maybe another coffee. Jodie and Jac and Sam got the train from Penistone at about 12.20 I think, and I headed home. 

I had my Greenhead Girls over for food and a get together! We went to Greenhead College together a million years ago and four of us are still pretty close. We try to get together each Christmas to celebrate and swap gifts, and I said I would host in 2025 because we had moved and Amy and Michelle hadn't yet seen the new house.

Gillian and E arrived first as Gillian had kindly offered to help me get set up. Amy and her family are vegan so we had got a bunch of vegan goodies and everyone brought things too. Michelle came with little B; her elder child and husband were at a birthday party. Amy and Mike came with their three kids, so all the older ones took off around the house. Katniss hissed at them which they came to tell me about. I explained how she doesn't really like people a lot (although she is getting a lot better with adults). 

We had all the vegan food and mulled wine and Gillian's husband Tom came with their eldest, L, and we just chatted. It was a really good time! These women mean so much to me and I'm glad for their continued presences in my life. We swapped presents, I gave R a big cuddle, and I was sad to see everyone go. I was exhausted by the time they had gone. Gillian kindly did a lot of tidying up; she was so generous with her time. When she went, though, I went and laid down for a bit and Katniss came and laid on me, as she likes to do. 

I was wearing a sequin and mesh skirt that came from Simply Be forever and a day ago. I only really wear it at Christmas but I love it. I'm pretty sure R thought I was a princess because of it. My t shirt is a Judi Love one that I got from Vinted, I really like it and it's comfy. The cardigan came from George also forever ago but I've been wearing it a lot too. 

Festive cappucino in the coffee house

My brunch

Me and Jodie and Sam and Jac, just about, in Holme Coffee House

My festively cute tiffin

A bunch of us girls celebrating in the afternoon, except E, who didn't want to be in the photo

Here's my outfit in full

And here's Katniss when she was lying on me

Weekend with Sam and Jac, Beginning

As is traditional, I got together with Sam and Jac before Christmas. We decided to come to my house as Jacqui hadn't been able to visit before. She arrived on the Friday evening and we went to Tesco to get tons of snacks and wine and stuff. Lee was out - I think maybe at his work Christmas do? I'm not sure - so Jac and I just watched TV. We watched a bunch of Christmas specials like the Gavin and Stacey one and then old ones like Porridge and stuff. It was a lot of fun! We talked shit as usual.

Jacqui stayed on the sofa bed that we have in what is Lee's office. It's a double and it's quite comfy, and there's enough room around it to make it easy to sleep in. It has been worth buying it! Sam arrived about 11am on the Saturday I think, and the three of us put ourselves on the sofa again to watch more rubbish including a bunch of Christmas song videos. We always do that and it's a lot of fun! 

Around 3.30pm we went to get ready because we were going out to The Vault in Penistone for food. I had booked a table for 4pm but the booking hadn't gone through properly, but they told us we could go back for 5pm. It didn't really matter so we went across the road to a pub for an hour. In the Vault we ordered basically all the vegetarian small plates to share between us all. We had a bottle of champagne between us and a cocktail each. By the time we had finished we were a bit tipsy but we had an appointment at church!

We had decided to go to Beer and Carols at St John's which is a very traditional parish church that I've visited a few times before. We got there early enough to get a small table for the three of us. There was a pop up bar so we had a couple of drinks there. Thurlstone Brass Band were playing so that was really fun too. It was just something festive and a bit different! I love that this kind of community thing happens in Penistone. We really do love living here now. The move was a very long and difficult part of 2025 but when it finally happened we both just felt way better and we love it. 

Lee came and picked us up and we just chilled out before bed, it wasn't a late night at all. I was wearing another festive pair of tights which are lovely but shed glitter all over the place, and a Scarlett and Jo dress that I love, I really need to try to wear it more often as it's so cute!

I bought these ridiculous things a few weeks before Christmas and had various fun with them for photos

Look how cute we are 

Champagne and cocktails in the Vault. It's cute in there, I like it

Some of the food we shared

The sign in the loo 

A mulled wine and two gin fizzes from the pop up bar in St John's 

We were sitting near this tree

And we saw some of the festive lights while we were waiting for Lee to pick us up. 

My tights when we got home

And my dress before I put my pyjamas on again