I've Been Thinking... - December Miscellany (Some Photos From The Month So Far...)

Hi!!!

Good afternoon, everyone.  Welcome to Blogmas Day Seventeen. I wasn't really sure what I wanted to post today, so here is December Miscellany, a random series of photos I have taken so far this month.

A lot of these photos have been taken on Christmas shopping trips at range of shopping centres including some taken in Selfridges at the Bullring in Birmingham (that's pictures three and four) and in Coventry  (picture number five). Then there's one from a pre-Christmas lunch with one side of my family - it was the loveliest day full of paper hats and laughter and some Brexit banter (it's laugh or cry, really, isn't it?) and presents and hot chocolate and ice cream. Massive thank you to everyone for a great day. 

Here are the photos, I hope you like them. Here's to all the little moments that make us happy, not just in December but all year round.

 

Thanks for reading today's post.
What have you been up to this month? Do you have any other comments or suggestions for future posts? Leave a comment and let me know.
See you all tomorrow for Blogmas Day Eighteen.

Have a great day!

GingerSnaps xxx

I've Been Thinking... - Snow.

Hi!!!

Good afternoon, everyone. I know today's Blogmas post is going up a little bit later than usual but I do have a very good reason - there's snow outside. I thought it would be nice to share some of the many photos I have taken of the snow - and a short piece of writing that I've done. If you haven't got any snow where you live at the moment or you just love snow as much as I do (which is a lot) then I think you'll like today's post. Happy Blogmas Day Eleven!

I've said it before but Winter is my favourite season. The cold temperatures, the frost, the soft blue or grey skies, the bracing winds and most of all, the snow. Snow is my favourite kind of weather. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe has always been one of my favourite stories and to see the world transformed into a Narnian landscape fills me with joy.

 

 

I love how serene the world looks when it is covered in snow. I love the excitement you can see in people's faces. I love how snowflakes feel when they fall on your face. I love having snowball fights and I love building snowmen and I love making snow angels and I love taking the sledges round to the park and slipping and sliding down the hills. I love how everyone becomes children again when it snows. I love how grown-ups and little ones and grandparents all laugh and play and make memories together. I love how people become happier and become more ready to pass it on. I love how people are eager to help push cars off snowy driveways and I love how people want to tell you they like the snowman you've built.

 

 

 

I can't stop looking out of the windows. I can't stop smiling when I see the trees in the park. I can't stop telling everyone how much I love snow. I can't stop laughing at videos of us trying to make our sledges perform in a Winter Olympics style. I can't stop singing Christmas songs with lyrics that mention snow and pointing as I sing because we actually have snow at Christmas-time like they do in the films. I can't stop thinking about how lucky I am to live in a world where there is snow.

I won't stop thinking about how lucky I am to live in a world where there is snow.

Because I am.

And I feel that with every fibre of my being.



 

I hope you enjoyed this post!
Has it snowed where you live yet? Do you have any other comments or suggestions for future posts? Leave a comment to let me know.
Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow for Blogmas Day Twelve!

 

I hope you have a wonderful, snow-filled day!

 

GingerSnaps xxx

I've Been Thinking... - Decorating the Christmas Tree! (Photo Diary)

Hi!!!

Welcome back! Today is Blogmas Day 4 and I wanted to share some photos from my weekend. We decorated the Christmas tree on Saturday and I thought it would be nice to tell you what the day we decorate for the holidays is like and what our tree looks like (spoiler alert: it's absolutely magical). I love decorating the tree and I think it's something most of us can agree is a fun tradition and something we look forward to so I hope you enjoy this post.

We have an artificial Christmas tree. I know this outrages some people, but I've spent all of my Christmases round an artificial Christmas tree and I personally love it - if nothing else because I don't end up accidentally standing on pine needles while walking round barefoot and howling with pain (it's right up there with standing on Lego, isn't it?). Our tree is quite a big tree and I wouldn't have it any other way - Christmas isn't the time for half measures, in my opinion.

 

I put the lights on the tree this year, took them all off because I'd missed a few branches, put them all back on, and then had to sit down for a bit before I untangled the second set and put those on the tree because, as it turns out, putting up Christmas lights is a pretty taxing job.

 

We put quite a lot of lights on our Christmas tree, but we also put a lot of decorations on it, so it's necessary for you to actually see them.

 

I would describe myself as the Chief Decorator but I don't decorate all by myself because I love gathering round the tree and making memories with my family.

 

I dig out a Christmas CD (find my recommendation here) or put on a Christmas music channel on TV (I'd recommend Heart's TV channel for the best Christmas songs), we sing along and drink as many cups of tea as is humanly possible and end up covered in glitter. It is definitely one of my favourite parts of Christmas.

 

 

We're not minimalists when it comes to decorating the tree, and we don't have a theme for our decorations, but I can't imagine the Christmas tree looking any other way. We squeeze as many baubles as we possibly can onto the branches and I think it leaves us with a beautiful display, especially because there are so many different decorations from different times and different Christmases and different locations around the world and so it is brimming with all the sentimentality of a Christmas movie.

Thanks for joining me for Blogmas Day Four, I hope you enjoyed seeing some photos of our decorating process (which sounds very official, doesn't it?) and of our lovely Christmas tree.

How do you decorate for the festive season? Do you have any other comments or suggestions for future posts? Let me know in the comments.

See you tomorrow!

Have a spectacular day!

GingerSnaps xxx

 

So, To Sum It All Up - December in Photographs

Hi!!!

How are you guys today? I hope you're all doing well. I spent December doing lots of fun things and I took a lot of photos and I thought I would share those things with you today - I figured that sharing some Christmassy snaps with you in January would be fine so long as I'm still in the Twelve Days of Christmas right now. I hope you like it.

Obviously I started my month by opening the first window on my advent calender - this one is the Cadbury one.

 I also opened a tub of Celebrations because Christmas. 

I went to see Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them with Elf Girl and one of our friends.

Elf Girl and I spent the afternoon in Costa - I had a Black Forest Hot Chocolate (one of many many more festive Costa drinks) - and taking photobooth photos until our friend could meet us.

We went for a meal at Chimichanga which I would highly recommend, for both food and decor (I had sea bass in case you were wondering). I enjoyed the film - I thought it was funny and charming.

I spent quite a lot of time Christmas shopping last month and went to several shopping centres on my mission.

The Bull in Birmingham was dressed up like a Christmas pudding which brought me far too much joy, and Coventry had some super snazzy decorations, shown below.

The beautiful ceiling lights were in Hemel Hempstead - I went shopping there while staying with my Auntie the weekend before Christmas.

December was filled with delightfully wintery weather, as showcased in these shots. I was running late one morning and cut through an alley way, but then got distracted by the pretty mist and fog and took photos - I made it with about ten minutes to spare so it all worked out fine. I just thought it looked really cool.

Later on in the month, while staying with my Auntie, it was really foggy again - it took us about one hundred years to complete the drive down.

Then of course there have been frosty mornings which I love having a walk around in.

There have also been some occasions to break out the sunglasses - I love those days when it's sunny but freezing cold.

I went for a meal with my friends before we all began our Christmas breaks. We went to a local Pizza Express and swapped gifts, ate pizza, pulled crackers and posed for photos, which was great.

We also had a walk around a local Christmas market and some shops (with plenty of time spent in Waterstones) before a final stop at Costa and heading home. I did all of these things wearing the paper hat from my cracker because those little hats make me so happy, I don't even really know why.

As I've mentioned, we had a pre-Christmas meal with one side of my family the weekend before Christmas.

We had a full turkey dinner with an array of puddings available to us which was lovely.

We then spent the rest of the afternoon exchanging gifts - watching my little cousins open presents makes me so happy! - catching up and eating enough olives to sink a ship (that last one might just have been me, haha).

I made my nails look all festive too - you might remember this from here.

I saw these Shetland ponies while we were there.

They were so sweet, I just had to show you.

My parents and I went into London while staying at my Auntie's. We went to see Hamlet and also to have a walk around. We went for a stroll along Bond Street to admire the window displays. We also went to Selfridges (which was a bit overwhelming on that particular day, I'm not going to lie - really crowded, really loud music...) and to Liberty where we bought Christmas crackers and I swooned over the pretty clothes.

We saw all of the Christmas lights on display. My favourites were these gorgeous angels on Regent Street and Jermyn Street.

Later in the month I went to Stratford upon Avon where I saw these lovely lights.

I ate this snowman cupcake.

I went to see a pantomime at the Birmingham Hippodrome with my Mom, Elf Girl, my Uncle B and Auntie A and had such an amazing time.

I love pantomime and the Hippodrome outdid themselves this year. It was so fun, so well performed and visually fantastic.

Oh and I had my first Starbucks since 2015.

It was a Fudge Hot Chocolate. It was really nice.

Not shown in photos:

Two of my friends celebrated their birthdays in December and I had so much fun at both.

I received some wonderful and thoughtful Christmas presents from my family and friends which I am super grateful for.

A relaxed, and very enjoyable, New Year's Eve.

And that was what December looked like for me.
What did you get up to last month? Do you have any other comments or maybe some suggestions for posts you like to see? Let me know in the comments.
I hope you enjoyed this post. Thanks for reading!

I hope your day is marvellous!

GingerSnaps xxx