My Christmas 2014

I can't believe Christmas has already come and gone; the whole festive season passed by far too quickly for me this year! Christmas Eve was pretty boring and uneventful, but I had a lovely Christmas Day at home with my family. Here's a few snippets from my Christmas celebrations...

On Christmas Eve morning, I went over to my sister's house, which is just around the corner from mine, and we quickly made Christmas crackers and table favours for Christmas Day.

We used a cracker kit from Hobbycraft for our crackers, and filled them with novelty chocolates from M&S- how cute are the brussel sprouts?- and also included a scratch card in each one. 

For the table favours, we added gold coins and a few Lindt chocolates to pretty cake cases, wrapped them in red or white embellished tulle, and tied them red ribbons. They were far from perfect but they went down really well with the family on Christmas Day!

Annoyingly, the cracker kit I bought was missing one cracker, and I didn't know about it until Christmas Eve afternoon, so I had to get creative on Christmas Eve night. I channelled my inner Kirstie, and made a cracker from scratch using cardboard tubes, scraps of red fabric, double-sided tape, and red ribbons. Sure, it was far from perfect and couldn't be snapped over Christmas dinner, but I was impressed with my last minute creativity. Even if it did take me over an hour to make!

I also made my blackberry and apple trifle on Christmas Eve. I've been making it every Christmas for almost a decade, so it's a tradition for me to make it every year now. It's delicious, if I do say so myself! I left the custard to set over night in the fridge and added the cream on Christmas Day- but I didn't manage to get a photo of the finished trifle before everybody dug in.

On Christmas Eve, I wore my South fox print dress, which is an old favourite of mine. It's already been featured in a couple of outfit posts, so I didn't take any proper photos of me wearing it. I didn't manage to get any photos of my Christmas Day outfit either. I couldn't really afford new clothes for the festive season this year, so I just wore my red polka dot Lady Vintage dress that I blogged about a week or two ago and absolutely adore.

I wore my make up the same way for both the 24th and 25th. I went with my signature look- green lids lined with black liner, followed by some festive green glitter. I used white and green pencil liners on the bottom lash lines, and finished with a couple of coats of jet black mascara. I'm not usually one for selfies as I hate my face, but I felt good this Christmas!

On Christmas Day, my Mum woke my sister and I up at 10am; the latest we've ever got up on Christmas morning! I set my alarm for 9, but I must've slept through it. Again. I wasn't being lazy; I was still awake at 5am.

My pile of presents from my parents, waiting for me on the sofa. I was spoiled rotten this year!

I opened my presents while wearing my new pyjamas from Dorothy Perkins. I love this Alaskan nature print!

My Christmas jumper and Christmas tree in my bedroom on Christmas Day.

Just some of the lovely presents I was given this year. I'll be blogging about what I got in a couple of days time.

Setting the table for Christmas dinner has always been my job. Is it weird that I enjoy it? I put on a festive playlist and often lose an hour putting it all together. It's just my immediate family and I on Christmas Day, so it's nothing fancy. Nothing matches but nobody cares. We have a loose green and red them, and use the same table cloth and place mats we've had forever. We're definitely not modern when it comes to Christmas; we're traditional and sentimental all the way!

I'm not qualified in napkin origami, so I made paper planes again...

We ate off my Mum's Port Merion china this year. They're not festive, but they matched the colour scheme.

My handmade table favours.

No other food needed, just turkey. Okay, maybe some roast potatoes and stuffing would be good, too... 

Our Christmas dinner was delicious, and it was lovely to sit around the table with my parents, sisters, and brother-in-law. We only ever eat at the table together on Christmas Day, (and occasionally on New Year's Day and Easter Sunday, if we have a big turkey dinner like this one), so Christmas lunch feels really special every year. As usual, we all ended up laughing until our sides hurt and I choked on my turkey. We were even in hysterics at the industrial strength crackers that turned in to a game of tug of war and sent chocolates flying in every direction. Christmas dinner is a health hazard when the six of us get together! 

After Christmas dinner, my older sister took my Mum off to A&E while the rest of us crashed in front of the TV. My Mum badly cut her leg on Christmas Eve night when she was retrieving presents she'd hidden under a drawer in her bedroom. She caught her leg on a piece of metal and took a big chunk out of her shin. There was so much blood, but she wouldn't listen to us when we told her she needed to go to hospital and get it seen to. I was sure it needed stitches. I don't think she realised how bad it was until the next afternoon, when she saw it with her glasses on, so she reluctantly gave in. She didn't want to go to A&E on Christmas Day / her birthday, but we made her go. Sure enough, she needed four stitches and four injections, but luckily they only missed out on two hours of the festivities. Never a dull moment in our house!

My younger sister got this White Rabbit teddy for Christmas off our older sister. He looks a bit startled!

I was forced to watch Frozen after Christmas dinner; I was not happy. It was the THIRD time a family member had put it on in about five hours. Am I the only one who is fed up to the back teeth of hearing about Frozen? I haven't gone a day without hearing about it on Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr, on TV, or blogs, or in real life since the film came out. It's doing my head in!

Once everybody was home, we just had a lazy afternoon watching TV. My sister and brother-in-law headed home around 6pm, and I popped over for a while, where we did the same thing. I had to admit defeat before two hours had passed, and came home to turkey sandwiches, festive TV, and my bed. I was so sore and shattered, that I pretty much crashed. One minute I was watching Family Guy, and the next I was waking in a daze at 2am! I somehow managed to spend 9 hours out of bed on Christmas Day, which was a huge achievement for me. It's been a long time since I last did so, and I'm pleased I got to enjoy a normal Christmas and not one in bed on my lonesome.

Overall, I had a great Christmas! I got to spend some quality time with my family, I got spoiled rotten with presents, and indulged in some delicious food... What more could anybody possibly ask for at Christmas? 

I watched a couple of those documentaries on the Boxing Day Tsunami this week, which claimed the lives of almost 300,000 people a decade ago, and I still can't help thinking how lucky I am to have had the Christmas I had when millions weren't awarded the same privilege that day. And I know millions all around the world won't have been so lucky this year, either. I'm so thankful for what I have! I'm just sad it's over for another year.

How was your Christmas? How did you celebrate, and what was the best present you got?