happy birthday jesus.

while the fire is burning out & old episodes of the vicar of dibley are playing, i wanted to pop in & wish you all a merry christmas! i hope you all had blessed days filled with happiness & laughter.
i had a quiet family christmas with just my parents. after church, we went home to get dinner started & spent the day playing bananagrams, watching the sound of music and crying at matt smith's last episode as the doctor (well, i cried anyway). for me, no christmas is complete without a christmas episode of the vicar of dibley - which i thought wouldn't happen this year - but bbc swooped in and saved the day showing "the christmas lunch incident" just before midnight.

a peek at my christmas.

just sharing a few photos from christmas today. we had a really quiet and chilled day this year, just me, mum and dad. and of course, jake. i wasn't feeling all that good in the morning so i was left in bed while my parents went to church.
when they returned, we started making lunch - with bucks fizz and garlic dough balls to munch on while we cooked. we had michael bublé on and sang away like no one could hear us. (they probably could, we had the back door open a jar). after we'd eaten, we played bananagrams and charades and humbugs - humming the tune of a song and having the others guess what it is  - gave my grandma a quick phone call (she normally comes to us for christmas, but this year went to my auntie's today) and then opened presents.
i got my mum an orla kiely pure dab radio which she loves so that made me super happy. and i got my dad a top gear dvd and a hmv gift card. the dog was treated to a rawhide bone (which he didn't realise was to eat), a teddy chicken and a ball type thing that you're supposed to put treats in and then they 'spend hours' trying to get it out. yep, didn't work with jake, he gave up after less than five minutes and was asking for it to be thrown. his favourite part of course was the wrapping paper. he even helped me unwrap some of my gifts.
this year, i mainly asked for books. i also asked for a jo totes camera bag - it is so beautiful!!! - and a diptique candle - i'm burning it right now and it smells so good! i will probably be doing book reviews of the books i got throughout the year, and maybe posting about some of the recipes from the rachel khoo book.

to those who celebrate it; i hope you had a very merry christmas, and to those who don't, i hope you had a lovely tuesday. what was your favourite present you gave/received this year?

♡

merry christmas!

happy 25th, everyone!! i hope you have had a fun filled day spent with people you love and are getting ready to enjoy the fabulous christmas tv.

♡

all i want for christmas is

ipad. // herstyler baby curls 13mm curling iron. // le cruset casserole dish. // moleskine. // leica x2 compact camera. // eames rocker in ocean. // black wire basket. // badger cushion. // fox cushion. // newgate brixton clock. // geometry cup. // beatles cushion. // naughty alice. // jumpers one, two, three & four. // hat & scarf. // nail varnish. // boots.

if santa had a gazillion pounds, of course.

what would you ask for if there was an unlimited budget?

♡ 

my top five festive films.

credit: tumblr

5. elf
a man who think he's an elf let loose in new york? everyone knows elf, but has anyone tried his special spaghetti/syrup/m&m's/pop tarts breakfast?

credit: wikipedia

4. the santa clause
ok, i grew up watching 'home improvement' on disney channel (i still have a soft spot for jonathan taylor thomas) and the santa clause was shown pretty much every year - sometimes followed by the santa clause two, which is equally as good.

credit: pintrest

3. love actually
romance + christmas? and the way every character is somehow linked to another makes it even better.

credit: weheartit

2. home alone
the cult christmas film of life, duh.

credit: filmchrist

1. the polar express
nothing makes it feel more like christmas than curling up with a hot chocolate (wishing it was served by singing and dancing waiters) and watching this film. it's sad really because i don't think i've ever seen/heard anyone mention this film as one of their favourites for christmas, i guess there's a lot to choose from, but this is by far my favourite. plus, the animation is amazing - especially for 2004 - and who doesn't love tom hanks?

credit: weheartit

what is your favourite christmas film? 

♡ 

oh christmas tree, oh christmas tree.

after lending my fairy lights to my school for our prom and never getting them back (grr), i nipped down to taskers - and then in to town to get my mum's christmas present - before i got down to decorating my tree.
decorating the tree really is when christmas starts getting real for me. don't get me wrong, i'm festive before hand, but the christmas tree really just sets the mood. am i right!?
last year we changed our "theme" to navy and silver/white, and we stuck with the same theme this year as black is pretty much identical to navy in dim lighting. the only time we stray from those colours in relation to the tree is in terms of sentimental baubles - such as a tiny wooden red bird we've had since i was a baby and our commemorative max picture thing (he died around christmas time in 2010).

have you started decorating; are you a christmas crazy or a seasonal scrooge? 

♡

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas.

after hinting and hinting about going to a christmas tree farm to pick out a christmas tree for over a week, i found one not too far from my house and persuaded my parents to go. so, this afternoon, we headed down there to check out the trees. there wasn't the biggest selection and it definitely wasn't anything like the christmas tree farms in other countries like america -it was basically a farm that sold christmas trees, rather than a farm that farms christmas trees. 

either way, we picked out our tree, fed some cute tiny reindeers - one of which only had one antler and the one he had hadn't fully grown in. he was my favourite - and got some coffee brewed in a trailer placed by the entrance of 'santa's grotto'. 

we listened to a selection of my favourite christmas albums; a very she & him christmas, hey, it's christmas! vol 3 and taylor swift's holiday collection. 

i can't wait to start decorating now!

have you got your christmas tree yet; is it real or fake? 

♡