A Wonderful Christmas Time!

#Blogmas

It's finally here...

CHRISTMAS DAY.

This day I suppose brings me to the end of Blogmas (writing a blog every day of advent leading up to Christmas), It's been tough (especially seeing as I literally created this blog one week before I embarked on my blogmas adventure) but I've loved every minute of it. I'm going to continue blogging from now on, not every day but whenever I have anything that I would like to share or I see something that interests me! Eeeek we'll see how that goes!

I hope you've enjoyed my blogmas journey and that you are having a wonderful Christmas, wherever you are and whatever you are doing on this festive day.

All my love and Christmas Cuddles,

Gibson Girl 

♥

Twas the Night Before Christmas...

#Blogmas

On the night before Christmas...

I have a few traditions that I insist on sticking to.

WRAPPING

I'm very unorganised so I leave ALL my wrapping till Christmas Eve...

It's a tradition for suure!

A MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL

This is my favourite ever Christmas film and as it is such a favourite of mine, I can only watch it with my family and it has become a Christmas tradition to watch it on Christmas Eve before I go out for drinks.

DRINK WITH FRIENDS

I like to toast Christmas in on the 24th December with my best friends and a glass of Champagne at a bar in town.

Then, despite being twenty one years old, I get back, pack my parents' stockings and then leave out a tray for Father Christmas by the fireplace.

It differs for everyone but we leave Father Christmas a mince pie, a chocolate from the tree and a glass of sherry with a carrot and a bowl of oats for Rudolph.

Let me know what you get up to on Christmas Eve and what your Christmas Eve traditions are!

Happy Christmas Everyone! 

♥

The Christmas Shopping Panic.

#Blogmas

On the Twenty Third Day of Christmas...

I Tackled the Annual Last Minute Christmas Shopping Rush!

It happens every year and it will continue to happen every year.

Every year, every shopper will panic the day before Christmas Eve, even if you think you've got it all sorted and that you've bought all of your presents, you are wrong and you will always work this out on Christmas Eve (or in my case the day before) and you will hit a point where you look like this...

JUST BREATHE.
Everything is going to be fine.

Through experience I have learnt that in order to panic shop well, you will need to fill yourself up and eat lots of food and drink throughout the day to keep you energised, refreshed and hydrated.

(My choice: A bagel! mmmm)

My bagel choice: The British Hot Press from Urban Kitchen

(Poppyseed bagel toasted bagel with melted cheddar, steak, horseradish and spinach) 

mmmmmm

Other things to remember are to stay calm and breathe and to not have a complete meltdown if the last pair of boots you want is sold out. There will be an even more perfect gift just around the corner!
STAY POSITIVE.

Useful things to take with you on your last minute shopping spree:

- a bottle of water (incase of a shopping headache)

- Painkillers (incase you need to get rid of your shopping headache)

- Camera or camera phone (so you can take photos of what you're thinking of buying for a second opinion)

- Chocolate (because why not...)

- Book (incase you get stuck in an almighty queue)

GOOD LUCK GIRLIES.

♥

A Festive Feast.

#Blogmas

On the Twenty Second Day of Christmas...

I tackle Christmas party food!!

Over the holiday season, everyone has Christmas parties left, right and centre.

SO I wanted to make some really cool, pretty and different canapés for people to munch on with their champagne.

I spent a while making them but I'm really happy with them.

Enjoy!

Smoked Salmon and horseradish Cream Cheese canapés

Smoked Salmon and horseradish Cream Cheese canapés

Our family dip
(Cream Cheese and sweet chill dipping sauce)

Butternut Squash puree and parmesan canapés with pomegranate seeds

♥

Accidental festive shopping spree!

#Blogmas

On the Twenty First Day of Christmas...

I did a sneaky little shop.....ooopsy

Living so close to Oxford Street, I often get sucked in to going in...and whenever I do I somehow leave with less money and numerous Topshop carrier bags...how?

I have no will power.

For those of you that haven't discovered the wonder of Oxford Street Topshop, it is like a normal Topshop except it has five floors, including a floor just for shoes!!! (WITH a cafe where you can think about what you want to buy over a cup of tea and a designer cupcake)...Bliss I think they call that...

First stop: Burberry 

(For some gorgeous Christmas perfume! There's going to be lots of hugging and kissing at Christmas time so you NEED to smell your absolute best!)

Second stop: TOPSHOP (where else?!)

I got sucked in and after about 3 hours I managed to only spend quite a lot of money instead of far tooo much money and came out with these gorgeous purchases...

MOTO Vintage Borg denim jacket

£58

SO GORGEOOUS ♥

And then...

Petite Boxy Faux Fur mink Gilet

£65

Beeautifuuul ♥

Oooops. 

I will be avoiding shopping around oxford street from now on just incase this happens again and I end up without a penny to my name!

♥

Oxford Street funzies

#Blogmas

On the Twentieth Day of Christmas...

I spent the day in Oxford Street doing ridiculous amounts of Christmas shopping, drinking tea, eating designer cupcakes and admiring the Christmas lights and window displays

BLISS.

Every Christmas, I love spending one of the days of advent on Oxford Street ALL day, admiring the beautiful window displays and just browsing the gorgeous shops, always waiting till its dark and then stopping of course for a hot drink to admire the beautiful Christmas lights.

I had such a wonderful day and my god did it make me feel SO festive. I started at Liberties, world famous material shop full of beautiful ribbons and clothes and it of course has a special Christmas floor filled with hand crafted decorations and chocolate truffles.

The inside of Liberties was just beautiful and all of the shops on Oxford Street and Bond Street were decorated so beautifully and festive.
This is a photo looking down on Liberties from the fourth floor at the Christmas displays.

I heartily recommend going window shopping at John Lewis on Oxford Street.
They have recreated the famous John Lewis Christmas advert of the Hare and the Bear by arranging pieces of furniture to form woodland animals being all christmas-sy!

Aren't they just amazing!

Then after spending a little too much in Burberry and Topshop (5 floors! Ahhhh I spend far too much time and money there!), I went for a cup of tea and a strawberry cupcake in Topshop's shoe department cafe!  BLISS.

♥

Christmas recipes

#Blogmas

On the Nineteenth Day of Christmas...

I made some of my favourite Christmas recipes.

Everyone has a few go to Christmas recipes that make them feel festive, here are two of my favourites that are the easiest to make and that I recommend whole heartedly.

Devils on Horseback

These may look unappetising and may sound unpleasant but they are quite frankly the most delicious Christmas snack EVER. They are the perfect canapés at a Christmas party or even just a festive snack.

Ingredients     (Serves 5)
- 10 prunes without stones
- 10 rashes of streaky bacon

Literally all you have to do is wrap each prune in a slice of streaky bacon and put them on a baking tray and cook them at 180 degrees for about 10 minutes or until the bacon is cooked. Then put a cocktail stick in each one and display them on a pretty plate for people to pick at.

Job done. It's ridiculously easy.

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Eggs Benedict

This may look difficult and to be honest isn't to everyone's taste but if you are a fan of smoked salmon and eggs, this is the recipe for YOU.

Ingredients     (Serves 1)
- 1 Egg
- 1 English muffin
- Butter
- Hollandaise sauce
- Rice vinegar (optional)

The most difficult part of this recipe is poaching the egg. My advice is to fill a frying pan with water and wait till its boiling, then pour in a few drops of rice vinegar then crack your egg in and leave it for three minutes. After you can see a white blob thats formed in the middle of the frying pan turn off the heat and leave it there for another two minutes and then with a big spoon take the poached egg out and put it on top of the rest of the food that you should have already prepared.

Whilst or before poaching the egg (depending on your multi-tasking skills, toast half an English muffin and butter it, place it on a plate and then put as much smoked salmon as you can stomach on top of the muffin. Then put your poached egg on top and then top it off with a dollop of hollandaise sauce.

Job done. It is MUCH easier than it sounds and tastes to die for!

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So those are my two favourite Christmas recipes! Give them a try and make sure you let me know what your favourite Christmas recipes are so I can give them a cheeky try!
At Christmas, I think the more food the merrier!

♥

Christmas-ifying my home!

#Blogmas

On the Eighteenth Day of Christmas... 

I Christmas-ifyed my house! (With the help of a few elves!)

For me, one of the best parts about Christmas is feeling festive, for me that means Christmas-ifying my house. For me and my family, putting up the Christmas tree and decorating the house is the true start of the festivities but we actually wait till very late to put it up, not until we've all broken up from school, work, university etc. for the holidays!

For us that day was today! So we got started.

The theme of our family decoration is usually red and white, as those are the two prominent colours in our wall paper, furniture etc.

We bought lots of decorations but these are a collection of my favourites...

(These decorations come from a variety of places: IKEA, France, London etc.)

I love hanging these decorations on the tree but I also think they look really pretty and festive around the room, for example hanging off a mirror or off a door handle...

My AGA has the pride of place in my kitchen, it's bright red and so it looks so special and festive, especially at Christmas when its covered in pots and pans full of festive food!
mmmmmmmmmmm

 The other place in my house that screams christmas is our mantlepiece in the sitting room!
Above our wood burning stove, we have a big pink and cream mantle piece which we deck out at Christmas with all our favourite decorations so we can admire it whilst we watch Strictly Come Dancing or other Christmas TV in front of the fire with a mug of marshmallow topped hot chocolate mmmm...

Our snowmen collection...

The fairies...

The reindeer...

And of course no festive room is complete without some candles, large glass baubles and some beautiful flowers...

I hope your houses are looking lovely and festive!
Let me know how you decorate your house in preparation for this festive season!!

♥

Flying Home for Christmas...

#Blogmas

On the Seventeenth Day of Christmas...

I flew home to London for a wonderful family Christmas.

Christmas means different things to everyone: Some people like to go abroad, some people love to spend the festivities with their friends, some prefer to ignore the holidays and some don't even like Christmas.

For me, Christmas is all about family and nothing in the world would stop me from spending the holidays with them at my home. I am really big on tradition and hate change with a passion. For me Christmas is all about my family including our two dogs in our lovely warm English home eating lashings of turkey, yule log, smoked salmon, canapés and all the trimmings and watching a selection of the fantastic English Christmas TV!

SO. Today I flew home to London.

The flight was only an hour and a half but with all the buses and trains I had to get (because Stansted Airport is in the middle of nowhere) it took me hours and hours. When I eventually made it home I was so exhausted that I slept for fifteen hours!! (But not before I had some Champagne and home made cake with my family in celebration of my return!)

My family is very close and I know that this is a gift that not everyone is as fortunate to share but if today has taught me anything, it's the importance of family - no matter how many people pass in and out of your life, they're the one's that will always be a part of you and the ones that will always be there, that and don't fly Ryanair if you want to get anywhere in a hurry...

So if I can give you any words of wisdom today it would be to appreciate your family and what you have because there will be someone around the corner who wishes they could have what you have.

♥

Peppermint Hot Chocolate

#Blogmas

On the Sixteenth Day of Christmas...

It's time to snuggle up with a peppermint hot chocolate

By December 16th most people have finished school, university, work etc and with Christmas day being just over a week away you just want to feel as festive as possible...
The answer - put on a festive jumper, turn up the Michael Buble Christmas album and make a festive hot drink to sip snuggled in front of the fire with your loved ones.

My personal favourite?

The Peppermint Hot Chocolate

http://www.forkandbeans.com

http://www.forkandbeans.com

Ingredients

200g plain chocolate (A massive bar broken into chunks)

600ml semi skimmed milk

150ml double cream

sugar (to taste)

A few drops of peppermint oil (optional)

Decorative ingredients

Whipped cream

Candy canes

Marshmallows

Hundreds and thousands

Gently heat the semi skimmed milk and the chocolate chunks in a pan and stir until the chocolate has melted and the milk is steaming, then take off the boil and stir in the cream. Pour the hot chocolate into six individual mugs and add sugar and peppermint oil to taste.

Then the fun begins, put whipped cream on top of each mug, sprinkle marshmallows and hundreds and thousands on top and hang a candy cane on the edge of each mug. 

Then invite six of your closest friends, don your festive clothes and turn on Home Alone or your Christmas film of choice.

♥

Memory Lane...

On the fifteenth day of Christmas...

I dug out the old photo albums

There is no better way to feel all warm and festive than to look through old Christmas photos with your friends and family, today I spent my day laughing my head off at the old photos of toddler Jen making a festive effort. 

Here are my two favourite finds today...

I look really surprised at my cat's ability to decorate the tree...

 My proudest moment of Primary School - being Mary in the School Play...I have just realised that me and the baby Jesus are a completely different colour...didn't notice that at the time...

So if you want an immediate festive fix, have a look through your old photos and laugh yourself silly.

♥

Tis the Season to wear Tartan...

#Blogmas

On the Fourteenth Day of Christmas...

Tis definitely the Season for Tartan...

Tartan is absolutely huuge this winter. 

This fashion season, tartan is everywhere. You can't even walk down the street without seeing tartan scarves, dresses, blazers, trousers, even pyjamas. 

I have compiled a few of my favourite tartan pieces of the season so get inspired people, tartan up and look bloody British this winter!

Some Tartan Dresses?

J

The top four dresses are available at Jack Wills whilst the bottom three dresses are available at ASOS.

A lot of people think tartan dresses are too much...I say they're wrong.

A Tartan Blazer?

These two tartan blazers are available at Jack Wills.

Again Tartan blazers are the mustard of the fashion world, will you love it or loathe it...

I'll leave you to decide but I think they are just fabulous and oh so classy.

Tartan Skirt or Trousers?

I am not going to lie I am a little scared of Tartan trousers because it is so easy to go horrendously wrong but I love these ones that I found in ASOS and have added them to my Christmas list... As for Tartan skirts...wow.

Everyone needs a Tartan Scarf

A Tartan scarf is this season's winter must have. 

These four beauties are from a variety of brands ALL available on ASOS this season.

I have too many tartan scarves but my favourite is a red/green tartan print that I wear with my Jack Wills barbour and look oh so very British.

I hope you enjoyed this post and remember, it's time to tartan up!

♥