What Sophie Said

Another thing I love about Christmas is the amount of parties and gatherings, and getting the chance to catch up with people you maybe see less often. Especially now, about 18 months after graduating, when the majority of my friends are only all in the same place for a relatively short time. On the 20th, we got started with a Christmassy evening at my house. House decorated... The baby sister and me Christmassed up... It was a relaxed festive evening with some of my favourites. And Max definitely won at Christmas with his Santa onesie. A couple of days later it was time for the annual Hawker Christmas Drinks. Glasses ready... Family ready... (Jess is pretty much my parents' third daughter so she's the extra brunette on these ones!) Mum and dad spent time perfecting what they've named the #champagneselfie And then Baz's Christmas Quiz turned the atmosphere competitive... ...

This is the first of three Christmassy blog posts: the build-up, the parties and the day itself.  I absolutely love Christmas, and it’s been such a busy festive period that it feels like the perfect way to get back into blogging ahead of the new year. I started to feel Christmassy this year on the day of a trip to The Ideal Home Show at Christmas with my mum.  The queue was enormous, but we were greeted at the door by a choir singing Christmas carols, santa and an elf in their sleigh, and it was snowing over the entrance. On arrival, we walked through a winter wonderland of Christmas trees guiding us in to the main exhibition hall. The stalls were divided into different sections, such as health and beauty, clothing, Christmas, home and garden.. and by far our favourite was food. We watched a few demos, and sampled plenty of foods and drinks - although we did decline a 10am bowl of curry! Having not really known what t...