Merry christmas to all and to all a good night

There's a reason they say it's the most wonderful time of year! And as the festivities draw to a close and we all spend the next few days until New Years simultaneously eating, and being, pigs in blankets, I thought I'd fill you in on how I've been celebrating Christmas this year! Something I only learnt this year is that the last Friday before Christmas has been dubbed 'Mad Friday' (presumably because everyone goes out on a mad one to celebrate finishing work) and we joined the masses in flocking to the nearest pub or bar. Me, Katie and her sister Laura started at the Cornmill for their fizz fridays deal (£10 bottles of prosecco always go down a treat) and then headed to Winter Wonderland to sing Last Christmas at the top of our lungs, before going on to Walrus and then baa bar. Even though we were technically going out out, I opted for a more covered up outfit (for once) and wore leather coated trousers, lace sleeve bodysuit, snake print boots and grey chanel boybag.

Luckily I wasn't feeling too hungover on Saturday because I started the day with present swapping with my Laura (as opposed to the Laura I was out with the night before). We went for a little catch up at a cafe round the corner from me, Christine's Delights, and I got the nicest white hot chocolate and slice of carrot cake! We'd both done well on the present front too; she got me a watch I wanted and a gorgeous travel-themed photo board and I got her a silver bangle set, a black bobble hat and a prosecco afternoon tea for the two of us! But the festivities didn't end there, as I then met up with my family (all kitted out in suitably festive gear) and spent the rest of the day in the pub!

On to Sunday and I guess I just didn't feel like I'd handed enough of my money over to Winter Wonderland yet as me, Aidan, mum and dad went there to eat and drink our way around the stalls. I was actually properly wrapped up for once in grey knitted roll neck jumper, skinny jeans, tan trench coat, snake print boots and snake print bag. And umbrella of course,because December has given us nothing but rain! Very unfestive of it if you ask me. But something that was very festive was the delicious turkey and cranberry Yorkshire pudding wrap that I got from the market! Mum and dad weren't quite so into the theme, as they went with a stonebaked pizza (although it did look amazing) and then we had a few drinks in the winter wonderland apres ski bar, which was absolutely rammed because evidently everyone else had had the same idea! I stuck to my festive theme and chose mulled wine and then began working my way through the Christmas cocktail menu, and then me and Aidan shared some loaded raclette fries which were something else entirely!

It made us wait all the way until Christmas eve but we finally got some Christmassy weather! No rain (at last), cold, crisp and with a low sun - it's my favourite kind of winter weather. And so of course, the cold called for a Christmas jumper; I wore my 'naughty list' one with jeans, red boots and fur-collared coat. One of our family Christmas traditions is a pub lunch on Christmas eve so we had a couple of drinks and WAY too much food at Wetherspoons before heading home to prep for The Big Day.

Once my Christmas day cheesecake was finished, I got ready in this black and yellow floral dress (another SheIn bargain) and thigh high boots. I love going to the pub on Christmas Eve because you literally bump into every person you've ever met in your life. All of my lot were out, plus all the boys from our friendship group at school, plus mcdonalds friends, people I used to go out with and even some who I hadn't seen since primary school (who literally still knew me as Jennifer, rather than Jenni). It was such a good night and there's nothing better to get you feeling festive than to catch up with old friends and get drunk on cheap prosecco!

And then it was CHRISTMAS! You know you're officially grown up when your parents are excitedly waiting for you to wake up, rather than the other way around, but even now we're old it doesn't make Christmas any less magical! As we always have done, we opened our stockings upstairs and then headed down to see what Santa had brought. As always, he'd been very generous and brought me lots of lovely house bits (my moving-out plans are fast approaching), a new Olivia Burton watch (my fave designer), a new camera, some makeup, lots of new books (to keep me busy), some pretty jewellery all the way from the Christmas market in Brussels, some new PJs and new socks (both Christmas essentials), new perfumes and LOTS of alcohol. As you can see, Bella was excited about the whole thing too, even if she did scarper off at lightning speed when we tried to open her presents with her. Then I got ready in super sparkly makeup, using my new Violet Voss macaron palette, which is filled with pressed glitters. I wore a black and nude sequin dress which was a bargain from missguided at only £20, and finished with sparkly, rose gold jewellery. Then I did my bits in helping with the lunch by making a big bowl of winter pimms that my grandad had requested, and wrestling with a whole lobster, which is much harder than you might expect. But in the battle of Jenni vs lobster, Jenni won. The Christmas lunch may actually have been my mum's best yet, it was so delicious! Plus, there were no weird ingredients that didn't belong (I've been seeing a lot of people on Instagram having peas and even sweetcorn with their Christmas dinner!). Dessert was a masterpiece created by me and my dad (another Christmas tradition) - a lotus biscoff cheesecake which was incredible (even if I do say so myself). After getting through 5 bottles of champagne, prosecco and cava, plus way more than a litre of vodka (although that was because aidan accidentally smashed it on the worktop and spilled it everywhere, rather than drinking it), we spent the rest of the day watching TV and playing a new game that Aidan had bought for us called Codenames.

Every single person I know (or have been vaguely near) in the last couple of weeks has had this horrendous cold that's been going around and I was convinced I'd be lumped with it for Christmas. Luckily, the universe was smiling down on me and managed to hold it off for a day, so that my Christmas day was unaffected, but I did wake up Boxing Day feeling like death warmed up. It's not like I had to go anywhere though so I spent another day eating way too much; all the leftovers plus a whole roasted ham, mini jacket potatoes, random chinese snack food that my mum decided to chuck in the oven and a Christmas cheese board worthy of a king. Plus, I cracked open one of the bottles of gin I got for Christmas and decided to drink through my illness, instead of wallowing in it. It was a much more casual day (despite the fact both days were spent sitting around at home) so I wore checked trousers and white button up top, and we watched Home Alone and White Chicks and played some more board games. It's been an incredible few days and I'm so happy to be off until January 2nd, meaning I've still got a good week of eating leftovers and lounging around at home. I hope you've all had a Christmas as lovely as mine, surrounded by the people who mean the most!