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... - Snapshots of Winter.

Hi!!!

Hello everyone. As February draws to a close, and everyone begins looking forward to Spring, I wanted to share some photos I've taken this Winter. Winter is my favourite seasons, for so many reasons, and this winter has been a wonderful one. So, without further ado, I present Snapshots of Winter, a mini photo essay of works taken from November last year, to the present day.

The first photo was taken in December on my way home on a particularly drizzly day. The second was also from a journey home, but one earlier this month - views of canals are as staple of life in Birmingham. The third is from January, when I woke up to flurries of snow, which sadly soon melted, but that kept my half asleep self entertained for a good half an hour or so.  The fourth was taken at about quater to nine one morning in January. The fifth and sixth were taken in November, on the day we went to Chatsworth to see the Christmas decorations - the sixth is the view from the passenger seat as the car heaters and an ice scraper worked their magic on the windscreen. The seventh was taken on Thursday, while I was staying at my Auntie's house. I was watching the TV and then looked out of the window, saw the view and abandoned my TV show for my camera. Storm Doris might have caused a bit of trouble but it enhanced the view ten fold. I chose the blue sky for the final photograph because I think it is rather symbolic of where we are seasonally, and was taken last week.

 I hope you enjoyed these snapshots of winter. I've taken approximately seven billion photos since Winter began (OK, maybe not quite seven billion... but close), but I chose these ones because I think they go nicely together as a little collection.

What are your favourite things about Winter? Do you have any other comments or suggestions for future posts? Let me know in the comments.

Thanks for reading.

I hope you have an incredible 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