• christmas paper cut
    Christmas - Lego - mindfulness - Monday Happy List

    Monday Happy List – Week 118

    December 26, 2016 - By 

    Happy Monday everyone. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and are doing something nice for St Stephen’s Day. I know it’s Christmas. Time for my weekly Monday Happy List blog post. Last week was pretty hectic trying to get everything ready for Christmas. We are spending Christmas at home with my mum but it still felt quite busy – last minute present shopping, buying food and cleaning the house. We were busy with a Christmas party at Beavers, my children had a karate lesson and I helped my daughter and her class walk to school for a church…

  • ideas for a North Pole breakfast
    Christmas

    8 ideas for a North Pole breakfast

    December 24, 2016 - By 

    Now my husband has finished work and the children have started their school holidays it’s beginning to feel like Christmas. It is so lovely to be able to relax knowing that everything is in hand for a wonderful Christmas. As you know, we’ve had some fun adventures with our Elf on the Shelf and as he will soon be disappearing for another year. I wanted to make the final few days extra special. Yesterday we found he had delivered a North Pole breakfast for the whole family to enjoy. What is a North Pole breakfast? I’ve only recently heard of…

  • How to make a Christmas Eve crate
    Christmas - crafts - Pinty Plus Ambassador

    How to make a Christmas Eve crate {Ikea Knagglig hack}

    December 22, 2016 - By 

    Christmas is all about the children in our house. I always enjoyed Christmas but seeing through the eyes of my children is even more fun. We started off a few Christmas Eve traditions and this year I wanted to make something to hold everything in, so I made a Christmas Eve crate. I wrote a little about things to put in a Christmas Eve crate and I really enjoyed making ours and putting everything together. Our Christmas Eve crate holds Reindeer food, hot chocolate, new pyjamas, a DVD, a letter from the Elf and our stockings – things to help us enjoy Christmas Eve…

  • Christmas

    7 things to include in a Christmas Eve crate

    December 20, 2016 - By 

    I started the tradition of a Christmas Eve crate a few years ago and I’m really glad I did. They don’t have to be expensive and for me, they mark the beginning of Christmas. The cards are sent, the presents are wrapped, the food is ready and there’s nothing I can do but put my feet up and let Christmas happen. This year we will be using the Christmas Eve crate I made but you don’t have to use anything. I thought it would be fun to write about the things I put into our Christmas Eve crate and share…

  • Christmas - parenting

    Stay strong this Christmas with Actimel #ad

    December 19, 2016 - By 

    As much as I love this time of year I can feel my stress levels rising. Both me and my husband have been battling our way through illness this week which has put a stop to my Christmas preparations. I like to be organised but try not to do anything until my daughter has celebrated her birthday at the end of November. This means that December is full of present buying, card writing, meal planning, Christmas concerts and trying to keep the children calm in the run up to the big day (no mean feat!). However, I am trying not…

  • A Portable North Pole video message from Santa
    Christmas

    A Portable North Pole video message from Santa

    December 17, 2016 - By 

    If you follow me on Instagram you’ll know that every evening I’ve been setting up our elf, Buddy, in different positions around the house. So far he’s fought a Stormtrooper, packed my son’s lunch in Christmas paper and even decorated our Christmas tree with loo paper! Today he brought the children a very special video message from Father Christmas via PNP. The most magical time of the year is here, and for many families worldwide, the Christmas holiday wouldn’t be complete without personalised video messages from Santa to the kids and kids-at-heart by Portable North Pole (PNP). The No 1…

  • Buckinghamshire - Christmas - days out - National Trust - parenting

    A fairytale Christmas at Hughenden Manor

    December 17, 2016 - By 

    I’ve mentioned Hughenden Manor a few times on my blog. It’s a local National Trust property and a great family day out. We’ve recently re-joined the National Trust as we realised how much we missed being members so I am looking forward to lots more great days out in 2017! We visited Hughenden in October to go pumpkin carving. You can read all about our Halloween experience here. As we were leaving one of the volunteers mentioned we should book early for Christmas and I did. I read a little more about it on their website and knew it sounded…

  • Christmas - Crafts for adults - Elf on the Shelf - sewing

    DIY one hour felt elf hat

    December 16, 2016 - By 

    There is so much going on at this time of year but when my 5 year old daughter turned to me and asked me to make her a elf hat I couldn’t resist. They are having a party at school on Tuesday and she really wanted a special hat to wear. How could I refuse? I whipped up an elf hat in an hour and I thought I would share it here in case it was helpful, I find you can never have enough festive dressing up gear at this time of year. Equipment needed to make a child’s elf…

  • Pastry squares with chestnut, turkey and kalettes
    Christmas - Cooking - eating

    Pastry squares with chestnut, turkey and kalettes

    December 16, 2016 - By 

    A big part of Christmas for me is the food. I spend weeks dreaming of our Christmas lunch and have a Pinterest board for all of my ideas. Oven Pride challenged me to think outside of the box and create a traditional Christmas dinner, but with a ‘seasonal’ twist. They wanted to hear about some funky Christmas flavours that would not usually be associated with your standard dinner. I’m a huge fan of ginger in any form. Not only is it packed full of magical properties but it adds great flavour to any dish. After a lot of thought I…