Christmas 2015 in Pictures

Christmas this year has been a bit of a whirlwind, well, when isn't Christmas like that? To make sure I don't forget those precious moments, I have put together a post of just some of the pictures I took of just some of the things we got up to over the past few weeks.

Yummy star mince pies, they made the perfect treat for Santa and our guests over Christmas.

Our visit to Santa was almost missed by my unobservant husband, but I managed to catch them talking to him in time, they were so excited and I just love the way my cheeky daughter is standing, talking to him and the casual stance of my son.

We took time out to visit our local church and sing some carols, it was a really lovely atmosphere and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. 

On Wednesday we received our Kelly Bronze turkey that we won from Jamie Oliver over on Instagram, it was super tasty and the centre piece of our Christmas dinner. Thank you Jamie :)

Once Santa had been our lounge looked like Christmas had sneezed all over it, in a good way though! Everyone had been truly spoilt and it makes you feel grateful for all that we have and all that we were given by our families and friends.

Christmas dinner was lovely and my rather retro trifle with swiss roll bottom went down well with hubby, what did you have for your Christmas pudding?

My daughter received a bike from Santa, it is her pride and joy and she has either been sat on it in the house or riding it outside every day. I remember my first bike, it too was my pride and joy and I hope she has as many great memories of her bike as I do of mine.

I will miss Christmas, I will miss the pretty decorations, the smell of the Christmas tree and the over inldugance of lots of lovely food. Days off with the family and watching films whilst snuggling together on the sofa.

I hope you have plenty of Christmas memories and here is to 2016, may it be everything you want and more.

My Month of November

I have never needed my camera more, this month has been hard on the soul. With a funeral, illness, accidents and the events of Paris, which we visited earlier this year, there is nothing I have enjoyed more than photographing and styling to empty my head of its cloudy whirlwind of emotional mush.

The more photos I take, the more I love fall in love with my camera. Taking pictures of the children, places we visit and food acts as a journal, helping me to recall the wonderful memories we have made throughout the year. Days like this one, spent sauntering through the wonderful Elvaston Castle grounds, the children let their hair down and enjoyed the cool autumn day by running through the leaves and mud, collecting twigs along the way.

Autumn brings with it a mixture of emotions anyway, gone are the sandals, sun hats and summer dresses and here are wooly jumpers, tights and welly boots. I am definitely more of a summer person, as much as I love snuggling in the front of the telly, I would prefer to be out and about, preferably without having to don heavy coats and itchy hats that make my hair frizzy! Maybe it's time to invest in some nice jumpers so I can layer up more.

The cold weather isn't all bad though, being out and about means we can stand huddled together drinking hot chocolate,  quickly eating food without your gloves before your hands start to freeze. Getting home to a warm house and roast dinner and snuggling up on the sofa.

Being indoors means baking, making and creating and with so many deep autumn flavours to chose from and so many pretty colours and themes to be able to use, autumn definitely has its pros. My heart hasn't quite made it into the cold days yet but it will and then we can all wrap up and get cosy. 

Hopefully, once the Christmas tree is up and the house is looking festive things will feel better. We headed to our local garden centre on Saturday to welcome Santa, it was rather cold but afterwards we headed to the park with some warm sausage rolls and then on to the pub for a hot chocolate. We met up with my brother, his girlfriend and her daughter, which was nice. I am so up for more family and friend get-togethers, just need to find some more time at the weekends and finish off our house.

Hopefully the next few weeks won't go too quickly, I need time to plan presents, food and enjoy the festivities as they start to take place. Christmas always seems to slip by so quickly and before I know it we are into the New Year.

How do you plan your weeks running up to Christmas, I need a planner me thinks!