Christmas Eve 2025

The few days before Christmas were a bit of a nightmare - things happened at work and I ended up sorting it out and staying there ages on the Tuesday, so I was glad to be off work for a good while after that. Lee had to work Wednesday morning but I just hung around the house. In the past few years Lee and I have been out for lunch on Christmas Eve and I was keen to carry on this tradition. It just sets the tone for Christmas in some way for me. It is nice to just spend the time with the two of us before seeing tons of people over Christmas, and it gives a nice ending to the busy-ness of working before and everything. So I had booked a table at the Waggon and Horses which is a lovely pub in Oxspring. It's really close to where we live now, and I had been there for craft club Christmas dinner a couple of weeks before this. Lee likes their Yorkshire puddings so he readily agreed.

We got there about 1pm and shared some Yorkshire puddings to start with. I can't remember what I had for mains, I am really failing as a blogger here and didn't take a photo! Oh well, it was delicious. We got home and I made my lemon cheesecake. It is famous in our family for being delicious and it's even been featured on TV! Sometimes it doesn't quite set properly but mine all looked amazing and set perfectly. I ended up making three as there was a lot of mixture, but I knew they would get eaten. One of the amazing things about our new house is that our old fridge lives in the garage and I usually keep it full of wine and other drinks, but it helped at Christmas to have space for puddings and so on. 

My mum and stepdad arrived about 3pm I think. They, like us, were excited to spend our first Christmas in our new house! We helped them unpack everything and then we just relaxed. We had all had big lunches so we had just bits for tea, and lemon cheesecake of course. We unpacked all the presents round the tree. One of the great things about this house is the size of the living room. It's huge, but also somehow feels really cosy? I love it. It was especially cosy with a Christmas tree in it. The tree was new and it's massive! Katniss claimed one of the presents for herself and slept there for ages, so cute. It was a nice, relaxing day. 

I ordered this Yule log from a woman locally and she delivered it while I was at work I think. It was basically just ganache inside with some brownie bits, so very rich. I only had a bit but Lee liked it and my cousin did too

The Christmas tree. Our living room is on the first floor of the house and has a Juliet balcony. We need to cat proof it but when we do I'm looking forward to having these doors open in the summer. The tree looked gorgeous!

My nails for Christmas were an OPI mini in a lovely glittery red, it lasted well and was very festive

Yorkshire puddings for starter

The hearth in the pub - which is a really old building - had this gorgeous decoration. It was so cosy and lovely

My cheesecake was a success! 

My mum and stepdad had been on a cruise for my stepdad's birthday and they bought me these tiny crocheted earrings, aren't they so cute?

And finally here's Katniss on one of the presents as we relaxed in the evening

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