Films of the Month - December

I watched thirteen films in December which was a decent number, and which bring my total in 2023 to 123. This is down on previous years but I don't really mind as I had a couple of really low months. I am already doing better in 2024! Here's what I saw in December:

Lee and I started off the festive season with The Santa Clause, which I haven't seen for ages but enjoy. I like Tim Allen a lot

Okay so it's not a Christmas film but I was sort of sick of the first two Die Hard films so suggested we watched the third one instead. Samuel L Jackson is so good!

I love watching the Flint Street Nativity, where a bunch of comedians and comic actors play kids in a nativity play. It's so funny and I really like it. I think Frank Skinner doing his Question of Sport impressions is really funny. I mentioned this to my mum and she watched it too with my stepdad, who had never seen it. Who put baby Jesus in with Michael Owen?!

Netflix recommended Family Switch to me and I quite enjoyed it - the kids become the grown ups and the baby becomes the dog, like a Freaky Friday for the whole family. Jennifer Garner was really good and I just found the whole thing a bit cute 

Lee and I watched Mean Girls together. It's one of my faves but he had only seen it once before I think. I love it, it's ridiculous 

I watched the third in Kenneth Brannagh's Poirot series and I liked it. Venice looked beautiful. I still don't quite buy Brannagh as Poirot but I do like the films enough

Lee and I watched The Muppet Christmas Carol because it's always so good and we both love it. It was just ten days before Christmas at this point

Agatha and Poirot was a TV film on ITV and I liked it - it had celebrity fans and a lot of information about Agatha Christie and her most famous detective. I'd recommend it if you're a fan

I watched Elvis because I want to watch Priscilla soon. I didn't love it. Austin Butler as Elvis was good, but Tom Hanks was terrible, but then, I'm not usually a Hanks fan anyway. I wouldn't run to rewatch this

I love Chicken Run and it always feels like a Christmas film even though it's obviously not. It's just so cute

Lee and I watched Elf together as it's a Christmas film he really likes. Again I don't really like Will Ferrell but find him tolerable in this

Lee and I watched Home Alone just a few days before Christmas because it's a classic and it's ridiculous and I love it

Netflix thought I might want to watch the new sequel to Chicken Run, so I did. I didn't love it - it was quite cute in places but lacked some of the charm of the original

Finally I watched The Stepford Wives because I had listened to a podcast about the book and was intrigued. I remember the film coming out but hadn't seen it before. I liked it, the cast is really good

New Year's Day 2024

We were obviously still at my aunt's on New Year's Day. Lee had the 2nd of January off so I decided to go to work on Wednesday instead of Tuesday, so we could stay an extra day, and my mum and stepdad did too. (They're retired now so it made no difference to them). That meant we weren't travelling two days in a row and it meant more family time together!

We had a quiet morning and then my cousin Peter and Lee and I put together this chocolate house I had made. I bought chocolate drops from Slatterys when I went there in November and thought this would be a nice family activity, so I didn't make the house parts until the 30th of December. Lee helped me. We tempered the chocolate which was difficult to do and it didn't totally work but it did mostly work, and the chocolate had a lovely glossy shine. We poured the chocolate into the moulds, which my friend from craft club gave me. We left them to set and put them in the car flat to travel down. 

The house pieces came out of the moulds easily enough on Monday morning. I didn't have enough melted chocolate to make the door or the tree or the people that are available in the moulds, so we just had six pieces - four for the house and two for the roof. We tried using hot water and a knife to melt the edges of the pieces, but it wouldn't work well enough. So Peter broke out the blow torch. It took a while and some rescuing with a knife, but it did all stick together in the end! All I wanted was it to be freestanding for a little bit at least and we achieved that! Yes it did have a few gaps but it was so cute. 

Inside we put Minstrels, Maltesers, little Twirl bites and little Wispa bites. We left it to set. We were making curry for the evening and we played cards, which was fun. Lee and my mum and I sometimes play Nomination Whist, but it's better if there's four of you. Peter left and we kept on playing games and stuff, and I was embroidering too. I finished the little gingerbread house piece I had been working on for a few weeks. I got it free with Love Embroidery magazine and I really like it. I ran out of the pale brown though so had to use a different one. 

The curries were amazing! We had about six types. Two were veggie - one Lee made which was vegetable tikka masala, and one which Caroline made which was curried eggs and which was SO good, I'll have to get the recipe off her. I love curried eggs! 

I was wearing my galaxy print dress from Topsy Curvy all day with my rainbow cardigan from Simply Be. A cosy, comfy, and warm outfit! 

Peter breaking out the blow torch

Melting the edge of the chocolate

All four walls standing! Lee and I took a tin to bring it home in, thinking ahead!

Once we started putting stuff inside

The bread stick was load bearing until the roof set properly

Then we needed two...

But finally it was all standing! Yay! Ignore the huge gap in the roof - if I did it again I would try harder to get the chocolate flatter, haha. This is the front

This is the back

Here's my little embroidery piece, I will probably keep it in this frame and just sew the back closed 

Curry and rick and snacks, it was so nice

Here's me last thing in my galaxy dress

New Year's Eve 2023

For New Year Lee and I went to my aunt's house in Surrey. We weren't sure what we were going to do, but after the bereavement in December I wanted to be with family so I asked if we could go too as my mum and stepdad were already due to go. Lee was playing a gig on the 30th and he didn't want to cancel it, so we set off on New Year's Eve. We got to Caroline's just before 4pm due to some traffic and that we had stopped for lunch. My cousin Peter was there and was staying for the night too! I didn't know! I had asked if he would be there (he lives in Southampton with his wife now, but she was working both days as she works in theatre) but he said he didn't think so, so it was such a lovely thing to have him there!

We swappped presents and then played with the games we had given Neil, which was fun. I got changed into my evening outfit and so did some other people. During the day I was wearing my "We are the weirdos, mister" t shirt which I got from Grin in 2022 in Afflecks Palace in Manchster, and one of my flamingo skirts. This one came from Interrobang Art and I love it - especially because it has pockets! I had also put on my new cowboy boots that my mum bought me for Christmas and I'm happy to say they were really comfortable. 

In the evening I was wearing an old Scarlett and Jo dress which is grey with polka dots on. I've had it ages but don't wear it often, but I can't really explain why because it's really nice. I wore it for my other cousin's wedding but that was way back in 2017! It's nice and sheer so would be great for the summer but it's good for a house party too.

We had pizza and snacks for tea and then played games in the evening before welcoming in the new year at midnight. Lee and I didn't go to bed until well after 1am! I usually don't like new year's eve but this one felt really okay this time. I was honestly glad to see the back of 2023. 

New boots! They have a bit of a heel but I could walk fine in them. My only disappointment is that they don't have clicky heels! 

When we arrived Peter had double decker cats on him - I think they miss him. The grey one is Max and the floofy ginger one is Charlie

Here's my outfit when I arrived

Annual tradition of a photo of me and Peter. My lipstick was an Avon one and it's very Barbie, I love it

I gave Peter this handmade (although not by me) headband that I had got for him. I got a pink one for his wife Beth, too

Playing one of Neil's silly games

It was fun and funny, even to watch

My mum wanted me to take this photo of her to show my stepcousin her earrings, which Niri bought for her. Aren't they cute?

Neil made us all pose for a photo so here we all are saying 'Yeah!' or something like that

And here's my dress later on, I do like it

Brunch with Friends

On Friday the 29th of December I went to Wakefield to meet some friends for brunch. We had been due to meet up the week before but Stacey wasn't well so we rescheduled. Stacey and I see each other fairly often, but our friend Gemma (we all went to school together in the 90s!) is working in Ecuador at the moment so she's only home for a few weeks at a time. She's moving soon, though, so we will hopefully be able to see her more. It is nice when we meet up and I'm glad we were able to. 

We arranged to go to Bob and Bert's in Trinity Walk in Wakefield. The place where it is has been a few things over the years but I hadn't been in this one. Still, there were a lot of spaces when we got there so we got a booth. The menu is pretty big and there are quite a few vegetarian options so that was good for me. I went for a vegan breakfast wrap and a candy cane hot chocolate, which were both lovely. 

We were chatting for ages; Stacey's husband and son came in too briefly so it was nice to see them too. We got some pudding and another drink - I went for a mint slice but unfortunately it had coconut in it so I didn't like it very much. 

We said goodbye to Gemma at about 1.30 I think, and then I popped into Lush with Stacey. I had been in the Lush sale before I met her and Gemma and bought a few things, and then Stacey wanted to go too, so I went back in with her and bought a couple more bits. Whoops! I had money from Christmas though and I know this will last me ages. I need to book somewhere with a bath so I can have a long soak or three with the bath bombs! 

I was wearing my Cheers Queers t shirt from The Spark Company, it's pretty new and I only bought it because Stacey sent it to me as she thought I would like it! I love it. I wore it with my purple Scarlett and Jo skirt which I wear really often, sparkly tights, and my new rainbow chenille cardigan. I got it from Simply Be recently and it's really cosy and soft. 

We remembered to get a photo just before we said bye, Gemma took it!

Vegan brunch wrap - it had veggie sausages, avocado, salsa, and spinach, I think. It was really nice

My mint slice which was disappointing

My outfit when I got back

Here's what I got in the sale - three gift sets, each of which had something in that I really wanted, and something I'm willing to try, some Snow Fairy, and some soap! Gorgeous! I got some Snow Fairy from my mother in law too so I'm well set

What I Wore December 28th

On the day after Boxing Day Lee and I stayed at my mum's for a bit to see my stepcousin and co again, but we didn't stay long once they arrived. We did see my cousin smash up a dome cake that my mum had bought, haha. 

It was so nice to be at home again. The cats were happy to be back too. I had some time by myself watching some of the Christmas specials that had been on the television over Christmas, and I did some writing as I desperately wanted to get over 200,000 words for 2023. I had signed up for 250,000 but due to it being a really crappy year for many reasons I just hadn't managed that. But I am pleased I had got over 200k, that is really good. We had an early night so that we could both sleep!

On Thursday our friends Leanne and Adi came over with their little girl, April. We hadn't seen them since February (thanks to the aforementioned crappy year) but always like to get together over Christmas or near it. They had sent us a cheese hamper (some bits seen below) and we had bought them a voucher for the cinema and some snacks to go with it as they like going to the cinema. April has been taken ever since she was a tiny baby! 

We just did a simple buffet for lunch. I did some cheese and crackers as you can see below, and we got some sandwiches, some crisps, some dips, and so on. Nothing complicated but it was lovely. Leanne and Adi brought some cake and we had some Christmas chocolates too of course. We played Mario Kart and Leanne and I chatted about our favourite conspiracy theorists. They left about 4.30 and I relaxed for the rest of the day. Lee did too! 

I didn't take many photos but I was wearing my galaxy print dress from Topsy Curvy, it's so comfy to wear but looks so nice, I love it. I was wearing my new lilac and green checked cardigan which is also really cosy and comfy. It was from Simply Be just a few weeks ago 

My stepcousin gave my cheese board 6.5/10 which is not a bad score. The cheeses were from the hamper that Leanne and Adi sent us, and the chutney was from the hamper Lee's brother gave us

Here's my outfit later in the day!

Boxing Day 2023

I usually enjoy Boxing Day a whole lot because it's really relaxed and fun. However, I slept really badly on Christmas Day night and felt awful in the morning on Boxing Day. I think my brain just broke a bit. I've had a lot going on and I think my adrenaline had just gone. I struggled to get up and showered, so it was nearly midday before I was dressed and downstairs. It didn't matter, really, but I did feel like I had wasted half the day! 

We had Christmas dinner leftovers for lunch at about 1.30. It was delicious, as usual. We listened to some of the records Lee and I had got for Christmas, and played some games. However, I still felt terrible. I had a very brief nap at about 4.30pm, and when I woke up literally about fifteen minutes later, I felt way better. I came round a bit! 

I hadn't taken any photos until this point, but then my mum gave my cats some treats and Poppy was being so cute asking for them that I took a couple of photos of her. We played cards which I always enjoy, and we had some Christmas cake later on in the evening. My stepdad and I had it with Wensleydale which is traditional in parts of Britain and it's delicious! 

I was wearing this Judi Love at Very dress which I love so much and it's perfect for a special occasion. It's black, with sheer sleeves and gold stars dotted on it. I wore starry tights from Snag too but you can't see them in the photo. 

The other photos are of a couple of presents - a poster from Lee and the hamper that his brother and sister in law put together for us. It's amazing, full of so many delicious things! Plus there's a couple of things in it that Lee doesn't like so I'll have to eat them myself, like the brandy snaps! 

We went to bed and I threw up - so maybe the problem all day was just that I felt under the weather? I'm not sure but I did feel way better once I'd actually been sick which often happens to me! I was happy to get to bed though. 

Look at Poppy's little feet stretching up to my mum for a treat. She's been overgrooming herself and has bald bits down both sides of her body. We've had her back and forth to the vet and can't find anything much wrong with her. It's the first week in January as I am writing this though and she's been diagnosed with allergies and we have to give her a tablet a day. It is growing back and she seems less stressed, just a bit bald!

She is too cute though. Jasmine was nearby too, don't worry!

This was what I got in The Broke and the Bookish's swap, which I've done for a few years now. The books are all off my wishlist and I'm excited to read all of them! I got some lovely things alongside, too, including treats for the cats which is a really lovely thought, and some handmade things which are beautiful

This was Gwen and Janet's swap and my partner was Kathryn, who you may remember from blogging back in the day. She and I have really similar taste in books so I am really intrigued by these books and will have to get to them soon

Lee bought me this poster and it's going straight on the wall, believe me

Judi Love dress in my mum's kitchen

Christmas cake and cheese, delish!

And finally here's the hamper Chris and Gemma gave us