Christmas

Weekly Roundup Monday 8th Dec – Sunday 14th Dec

| Suzi Tench

MONDAY 8TH DECEMBER

I had the day off from work today, so I decided to take up the carpet from the stairs, landing and spare room as they were worn and old. The plan was to take up the carpet and see what the flooring was like underneath before we decorated. I was hoping that there were floorboards underneath that could be sanded and varnished. When I took up the carpets, I found that they had been laid on top of laminate flooring along the landing and spare room. It explains the fusty musty smell that I couldn’t get rid of in the house. The laminate underneath was peppered with staples that had been used to hold down the carpet underlay, and was covered in something sticky, so I decided to take that up on the landing. Underneath the laminate, I found the original floorboards. I would have taken up the laminate in the spare room as well, but after loading all the carpets and laminate into my car, I had no more space. I also made fish pie that we had for tea!

TUESDAY 9TH DECEMBER

I worked a 9:45am – 3:00pm shift. It’s starting to get really busy in the run-up to Christmas – lots of stock is arriving, shelves need to be stacked, and customers need to be served. My shift went really quickly. I had a nap after work as I was so tired. think I’d overstretched myself the day before.

WEDNESDAY 10TH DECEMBER

I worked a 7am – 11am shift today, then I came home and played Animal Crossing for a bit. We had decided to make some Christmas gifts, including hampers for our parents, and after making lists of items we needed, we headed to Hobbycraft to get the things we needed. We popped into Tesco to get some food shopping and some other craft bits that we couldn’t get in Hobbycraft, and after that, we headed to Wetherspoons for some dinner before coming home.

THURSDAY 11TH DECEMBER

I worked from 9:30am – 5:00pm. The shift was busy but good. We have been able to wear our Christmas jumpers since the 1st of December, and that, along with Christmas tunes being played on our store radio, is making me feel really festive. When I got home, we had a crafting evening, making cards, candles and shortbread to put into the gift hampers.

FRIDAY 12TH DECEMBER

I came down with a flu-like virus and had to have the day off from work. I spent much of the day playing Animal Crossing and watching TV between taking meds and napping.

SATURDAY 13TH DECEMBER

I still felt awful and had to take the day off from work again. I hate being ill. I spent the day snuggled on the sofa with Roxy, under the blankets not doing much.

SUNDAY 14TH DECEMBER

I started feeling better today, so we took my car to the local tip to get rid of the carpets and laminate that I’d taken up earlier in the week. After we had done that, we headed to Hobbycraft to pick up some more craft bits for our Christmas hampers. We picked up a soap crafting set, some felt to make hats and some empty crackers to fill. When we got home, we started to make soaps and hats for the crackers, along with some wine glass charms as gifts to put in the crackers.

WEEKLY ROUNDUP MONDAY 24TH NOV – SUNDAY 30TH NOVEMBER

| Suzi Tench

I used to love writing these kinds of posts and sharing what I had done in my week, and it’s something I’m keen on re-starting. At the moment, I can’t add any photos to my posts, I have used my allocated media space and need to upgrade my plan, but I will be adding photos to my blog Instagram so you can view them there for the time being! I am planning on writing these posts and publishing them on a Saturday morning. The Weekly Roundup posts will cover the week previous to the one we are currently in and will be dated in the heading with the week that they cover (as above), so they will be easy to track and spot!

MONDAY 24TH NOVEMBER

I had the day off from work today and spent some of the day making hair braids with red, white and green kankelon hair for my boyfriend to wear to his work’s Christmas party. I made some 3-strand plaits, some twists and a couple of fish tail braids, connecting them to mini hair claws so they would be easy to put in and take out. We had been shopping for food a few days previously and had picked up some frozen Salmon Risotto, which we had for tea.

TUESDAY 25TH NOVEMBER

I had work between 6pm and 10pm, but during the day, I managed to write a blog post and publish it (you can read that here). I also started working on a blog plan for posts that I want to write for the rest of 2025 and 2026. Work had some lovely Christmassy plants in, and I came home with 2 sets of hyacinths in sparkly pots to display in the house.

WEDNESDAY 26TH NOVEMBER

I had a shift at work from 12pm – 4pm. I was awake early and did some housework – laundry, putting the bins and recycling out for collection and cleaned the kitchen. I spent some more time on Excel (my go-to software for planning), working out a blog schedule. While at work, I realised that one of the feathers from my Pandora charm had disappeared, so I need to look into getting that fixed or replaced at some point.

THURSDAY 27TH NOVEMBER

I had a day off today, and my best friends and I had arranged to meet for a late lunch and a few drinks. I had a bit of a panic as I didn’t know what to wear, the weather was cold and rainy, and half the clothes I used to wear don’t fit anymore as I’ve lost so much weight. I finally decided on a dress that I layered over a black mesh top and black vest top, tights, boots and my trusty fake fur coat. I did my makeup and got a bus (a single ticket was bloody expensive!) to our meeting point earlier than planned. We went to Wetherspoons, where I had a pint of Atlantic Pale Ale and Scampi and Chips. We sat and chatted and had a lush time. I’d made an application to change my surname via deed poll, and the certificate had come earlier in the week, so I took that with me, and my besties signed it as my witnesses! My boyfriend came to pick me up later and dropped my friend home.

FRIDAY 28TH NOVEMBER

I had a shift between 4:45pm and 10pm. I was up early and spent some time doing some cleaning and tidying. I had sardines on toast with some parmesan cheese for breakfast – something which I love but don’t have very regularly! I also wrote and published another blog post (you can have a read of that here). I spent some time planning more decorating and looking at house decorating stuff online before getting myself ready for work. My boyfriend cooked us food for when my shift was over, we had Quorn Chicken Nuggets, beans and chips, which were yum! We got down some of my Christmas decorations and had a look through them to see what we could use and sorted through them.

SATURDAY 29TH NOVEMBER

I’ve been wanting a proper, real Christmas tree for the past few Christmasses, but, for one reason or another, I’ve never been able to have one, not to mention that for years I’ve not really felt very festive. This year, though, I’m finding that the festive spirit is seeping back into my life and I’m getting really excited about Christmas this year! Before I started work (6pm – 10pm shift), my boyfriend and I headed to the local B&M and bought a real Christmas tree!! We got some new decorations to go on it, too! When I got home from work we put some Christmas music on, poured ourselves a good glug of Dooleys and set about decorating the tree! We were up until gone 3am, having too much fun decorating the tree and chatting.

SUNDAY 30TH NOVEMBER

Sunday was a bit of a chill day; I had seen an ornament on Facebook that was similar (or maybe even the same) as one my Grandma used to have, being advertised for sale in the local tip shop (a shop near the tip that people can donate items to that are too good to be thrown away). I showed my boyfriend, and we decided to visit the shop to see if it was still for sale. Unfortunately, the item wasn’t there anymore, but we had a look at other items they had in the shop. We then visited the tip and got rid of my old, fake Christmas tree, which was falling apart and had gone rusty. When we came home, I made us fried cheese toasties, which we had with salad for our lunch. We decided to have a roast dinner later and prepared all the bits for that. We have been doing some scrapbooking and ordered some photos for our scrapbook pages from Free Snaps, so we can make some more pages for our memory book when they arrive!

Blogmas – I Missed a Few…

| Suzi Tench

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I’d had it all planned out, all the posts for the whole of December and I was doing so well up until last weekend when I had a few impromptu days of visitors and spending time with friends that catching up on Blogmas was nearly impossible.

It isn’t often that I have last-minute plans and lose a few days of blogging but it was really nice to spend time with friends who I haven’t seen for years and spend the time catching up over a few glasses of wine, eating lovely food and just spending quality time together.

Then, before I knew it, Christmas was upon us!  I worked Monday and Tuesday, zooming home after work each day to finish writing cards and wrapping presents that I had forgotten about, packing a bag for myself and Roxy and travelling to my friends on Christmas Eve to spend Christmas Day there.  I headed back on Boxing Day, then gathered some things, had a shower and drove to my Mum and Dads house to have our Christmas with my brothers, sister in law and my niece and nephew.

I had a really lovely time seeing the kids open their presents, spend time chatting with all of the family and eating lots of lovely food, including lots of cheese (sorry Dad!) before arriving home and heading to bed.

On Friday I had to go to work but the day was easy and quiet with only a few of us in.  It was the perfect atmosphere to get all of the loose ends tied up and ready for Januarys payment to be made.

I got home from work around 4:20pm and cleaned the house and tidied up before heading to bed early, both Roxy and I were shattered!  I was up early on Saturday and whizzed the hoover around as my brother, sister-in-law, my niece and nephew were popping by before heading back to London.

It has been a hectic, mad and brilliantly fun festive period but I am so glad that we only do this once a year!  I’m now on count down to the New Year!  I have so many plans and ideas for the New Year and I can not wait to get everything underway and started!

How was your Christmas?  I hope you all had fun!  what are your plans for New Year’s Eve?

Blogmas – Christmas Day

| Suzi Tench

Happy Christmas! I’m sorry I have been quiet on the blog front for the past few days, I had a few unplanned but really lovely days that were spent with visiting friends!

I hope you all have a lovely day! Much love to you all and your families and friends! Xxx

Blogmas – Surprise Saturday

| Suzi Tench

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It’s another Surprise Saturday and I’m really surprised about a few things, number one being that it is the last Saturday before Christmas and the second, that I am pretty much ready for the day itself!

I got the last of my gifts purchased and am waiting on delivery so I can get them wrapped, the cards are written (the few that I send) and waiting to be hand-delivered, all of the decorations are up and, yesterday, I had my first Christmas Celebration with my friend who is going to be away over Christmas visiting family!

I had a really nice day yesterday, my car passed its MOT so I collected it in the morning and then went to get some food for dinner.  It is a bit of a tradition now that my friend and I have our Christmas before he goes away.  We spent the day preparing dinner, talking, playing games (mainly Dobble), setting up my Wii, watching Christmas films and eating lots of lovely food!

I prepared prawn cocktail for starters then had a roast dinner before tucking into a dessert of cherry pie and ice cream.  The main course consisted of mashed potatoes, roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, roast carrot and parsnip, cauliflower, sprouts and a Quorn Roast.  It really was the best day!

How are your plans coming along?  Have you had any Christmas celebrations yet?  Let me know in the comments about what you have been up to, I’d really love to hear about it!

Blogmas – Wishing Wednesday

| Suzi Tench

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What is on your wish list for Christmas?  It’s always something that I am asked by family and friends both for my Birthday and for Christmas and usually I don’t really have any solid ideas of anything that I want and never really have an answer for.  Over the past few years, I have compiled lists using Amazon Wish List to add things to that I see and like so that I can answer this question fairly easily, either by scanning the list or just sending the list to people for them to pick something from.

A few things that I am wishing for this year are new earrings, clothing, a necklace, a tin opener and a cheese grater as well as a few items for the home including a multicolour chandelier.  On my list are a ton of dinosaur-themed things from jewellery to t-shirts as I love dinosaurs, there are rainbow coloured items and items that have an ethnic feel to them too.  I also have on there some fragrance and body care items, makeup and incense/room scent things too. (My Wish List in case you were wondering!)

When we were little, my brothers and I used to be so excited to get the Argos catalogue and prepare our lists for Santa, often circling almost every item on the page!  I still get a bit excited to look through Christmas gift guides, especially the Boots and Superdrug ones but the catalogues are becoming a thing of the past as the internet gains even more momentum in the shopping area.  A lot of the times, when I stumble over something that I like, which gets added to my list, it is often found because I was looking for something else that I intended to buy and I often wonder, if I wasn’t such a big user of the internet and shopping sites, whether I would have any kind of wish list at all…

What is on your wish list this year?  Let me know in the comments!  I’d love to hear all about your Christmas wishes!

Blogmas – Top 10 Christmas Films

| Suzi Tench

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If you have been reading my Weekly Roundup’s recently you will have read that I have been watching a few Christmas films over the past few weeks.  Today for my Blogmas Top 10 I am sharing my favourite Top 10 Christmas films!

  • Elf
  • Arthur Christmas
  • The Snowman
  • Polar Express
  • A Christmas Carol
  • Bad Santa
  • Call Me Claus
  • Santa Claus The Movie
  • Love Actually
  • Christmas Chronicles

What are some of your favourite Christmas films?  I’d love to know of any that I could add to my watch list over the festive season so let me know in the comments!!!!

Blogmas – Wishing Wednesday

| Suzi Tench

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It’s another Wishing Wednesday post for Blogmas and today is all about gifts for family.

When I give gifts to people I like to give things that are meaningful and thoughtful rather than some present you can get on a 3 for 2 offer in the supermarket, especially when it comes to giving gifts to family members.

I sit down and write a list of people who I would like to buy for and then think about things that they like to do, hobbies they may have or things that interest them which seems to work really well regardless of the age of the person you are buying for.

Google can be a great help in finding options, for example, if a family member really enjoys gardening then I search for “Gifts for gardeners” or “Gardening gifts” to see what is available before heading to the shops.  I find that this approach can give you lots of ideas especially if the interests are something you have no clue about.

One of my favourite things to do is to create a hamper or gift basket of similarly themed items, I’ll take the example of gardening… I would buy some seeds, both vegetable and flower seeds, some gardening gloves, a gardening trowel, a garden-themed mug and maybe a notebook with an outdoors print (like leaves) for those all-important growers notes and package it all up in a seed tray or rubber trug.  My Mum and Dad go away a lot and the other year I put together a wash bag of goodies for my Mum to take away with her or that she could use at home during a pamper session, I put lots of travel-sized products in there (shampoo, conditioner, shower gels, deodorant) and added other things like a face mask, hand cream, body lotion and perfume for her.

Another thing you can do is speak to other family members and all chip in to get one gift or gifts along a similar theme.  My Dad loves to paint so one year I bought him a watercolour travel paint set and my brother bought him some new paintbrushes in a canvas roll.

With the littles in the family, I like to buy them something creative or that will help them learn.  I bought them watches last year that were designed for kids and helped them to learn how to tell the time, I decorated some wooden pencil cases with gems and their names on them which they could use for their favourite pencils.

I’d really love to tell you what I have got for my family this year but I don’t want to spoil their surprises!

What are you getting for your families this year?  I’d love to know so leave me a comment!

Blogmas – Tinsel Tuesday

| Suzi Tench

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I can’t believe we are already 10 days into December!  How on earth did that happen?  I’m back today with my 10th Blogmas post which is all about the room decorations!

I love getting the room made up for Christmas, not just getting the tree out, up and decorated, but adding other festive touches to the space as well.  I’m not a keen fan of tinsel so don’t own any, but I love other decorations!

Before putting any decoration up, I first like to put away a few of my everyday ornaments and have a good clean everywhere, damp wiping all the surfaces before getting the polish out (it’s literally the only time the polish comes out of the cupboard!) and then re-organising the shelves.

Once I have made space, cleaned and tidied I then make a start on making everything festive.  I love to run fairy lights along the shelves and add small pegs between them to clip Christmas cards and small decorations on to.

Excess baubles look brilliant displayed in large, clear glass vases along with holly and other greenery.  To keep the greenery watered I like to place a small glass jar of water in the centre before arranging the baubles around it to hide it.

Paper chains are another favourite of mine and I tend to choose white printer paper to make them, cutting strips around 10 cm long by around 1.5 cm wide.  Making them while watching a Christmas film makes the task seem to fly by.  You can pick up cheap, pre-cut sets in places like pound shops, all you need to do is make them.

I’ve not hung anything from the ceiling in my home as the ceilings are quite high and I can’t reach but in other homes I have lived in I have hung pretty decorations up that spin and twist when a breeze catches them.  I do hang things from my main lights in the living and dining area of my house though.

I love snow globes and have a few that I dot around in spaces that I have made tidying up, and other Christmas themed ornaments go out to.

I also love to get all my festive scented candles out and light one in the evening when I am home from work each night just to make it feel even more special.

What decorations do you put up in your rooms?  Let me know in the comments as I’d love to know!