Lorna Cole

I know this year was very different for everyone and some of your plans will have been completely ruined but I hope you were able to enjoy Christmas as best you can. Despite living in a tier 2 area, I spent Christmas at home with my immediate family which isn't much different from most years. We'd usually visit family in the days after but obviously haven't been able to this year, I'm lucky to have had a relatively normal Christmas though.  I've seen a lot of people feeling unsure about posting what they got for Christmas this year, but generally, it seems people want as much normality with content as possible. I'm also very grateful for the gifts I received!  I actually treated myself to a new laptop as my old one stopped working earlier in the year. Since I've just applied to new university courses it was definitely a worthwhile purchase and I put some money I recieved for Chrismas towards it!  Usually my grandparents will give me money so I can buy things...

I love any sort of tag post but a festive one is even better. A big thank you to Anna-Alina for tagging me, you can check out her post here ! Christmas tree. Real or fake? Is a Christmas tree a must-have for winter holidays and creating the Christmas atmosphere or is it not necessary for you? I love going to pick out our Christmas tree each year, we usually get it around the start of December so it marks the official start of the Christmas season for me. I think fake trees can look great but I'd miss the smell of a real one! Holiday drinks. Coca Cola, eggnog or hot chocolate? Or maybe something different? What you drink on Christmas? Definitely hot chocolate, I tried Costa's Chocolate Orange one recently which was great! We always make hot chocolate on Christmas Eve whilst watching a Christmas film so it always makes me feel super festive. What are your own Christmas traditions? One tradition I enjoy is getting new pyjamas on Christmas eve and I also love playing board games du...

As I’ve not been doing Blogmas this year I thought I could do a roundup of the lead up to Christmas!  Secret Santa   I participated in a Bloggers Secret Santa again this year and we opened our presents last week. I was kindly given some really lovely gifts, I’m especially looking forward to trying the different masks as it’s something I often forget to buy! Also Lindt chocolate is always a winner!  I also really enjoyed buying the gifts, it’s so fun to wrap everything up and see them open it! Big thanks to Casey for organising it - you can see a roundup of it on her  Instagram! Decorating   I think the thing that really kicks off the season for me is decorating the tree as it instantly makesme feel Christmassy! I think we have a fairly simple tree, with a red, white and wooden theme, I kind of wish we could have a tree that was decorated for every season! Christmas Shopping   I said on my Instagram recent...

I am working with Paperless Post, who kindly gifted me some coins to use on their website. However, all opinions are my own of course! Paperless Post is a company that allows you to customise online stationery such as greeting cards, invitations and flyers. You can then send them via email to the recipients, using your Paperless Post coins. These can be purchased, however, there are also some free cards available and you receive 25 free coins when you sign up too!  I was really impressed by the different designs they have, they are actually partnered with fashion designers like Kate Spade, Kelly Wearstler and Oscar de la Renta.  As we’re quickly approaching the festive season I thought this was the perfect thing to try out as it’s so easy to send Christmas cards! You can choose a design and then you have the option to customise the text, backdrop and envelope. They also offer photo cards so you can add your own photos to make it even more unique! Here are a couple of...

 I was recently tagged in The Christmas A-Z Tag by the lovely Gemma, you can check out her post  here  or head over to her blog:  Hidden Little Gem . The purpose of this tag is to essentially share the things you love and associate with Christmas - using each letter of the alphabet of course! Finally, make sure you tag more bloggers to complete it as well. A -   Absolutely everything. I thought I'd start there because that encompasses it all and instantly covers how much I do love Christmas! B -  Buying the tree is something I always like to do because we usually get it at the start of December which really kicks off the festivities!  C -  Chocolate is definitely one of the best things about this time of the year, it's great always but you just have an excuse to eat so much more! My favourite has to be a Terry's Chocolate Orange! D -  Decorating the tree is another thing I enjoy because it instantly makes me feel so Christmass...

I'm desperately trying to hold on to every last bit of Christmas so here are some of the things I loved throughout December and the festive period! I swear it goes by quicker every year?! Beauty - Now I'm stripping it back to basics here as this month I have been so thankful for my trusty Vaseline lip balms. Now they aren't a new favourite by any means but in the colder months when your lips tend to be drier, a good lip balm is essential and Vaseline is my go to! I love all the scents but I tend to use the Aloe Vera and Rosy Lips most often, I've always got one of them close to hand! Another thing that is always needed during the winter months is hand cream, the Nivia Express Hydration hand cream is great for day to day use, I also have a Ted Baker one that I like as it smells amazing! T.V/Movies - Moving on to what I've enjoyed watching this year, and I have to say that of course I did spend most of December watching Christmas movies (Elf is my fave) but ...

Happy Christmas Eve everybody! I thought The Christmas Tag would be very appropriate to do today, I tag anyone who wants to do it!  Q) What is your favourite Christmas film? A) Elf! It is just brilliant! Q) Is your Christmas tree real or fake? A) It's real, wouldn't have it any other way! Q) What would be your dream place to visit for the holiday season? A) New York or somewhere really cold and snowy because we don't really have much hope for a white Christmas where I live! Q) Do you stay in your pyjamas or dress up on Christmas Day? A) I stay in my pyjamas whilst opening presents, having breakfast and then at some point, usually late morning I'll get dressed. However we don't necessarily dress up, I'll usually wear a top or jumper I received as a present with some jeans. Q) What is your favourite holiday snack? A) Cheeselets! They are a must have and something I can eat and eat! / Q) Are you a pro present wrapper or do you...

Less than a week to go now guys! Something that is a massive part of the whole run up to Christmas are the festive tunes that I love to listen to - in fact I've probably had them on since September time! There are some absolute classics and I would love to know what your favourite is! I'm going to share my top 10 favourites, then a link to my YouTube Christmas playlist and various Spotify ones too if you want to have a listen and put them on repeat like me! 1) Merry Christmas Everyone - Shakin' Stevens This one had to be at the top of my list because I have always, always loved it. Whenever I hear it I feel nostalgic as I associate it with Christmas at my Primary school and of course it is great song to get anyone in the Christmas spirit! 2) Last Christmas - Wham! I couldn't go through Christmas without listening to this, it is a great one to belt out in the car I think! After the horrible passing of George last year, I feel like this one should be...

There's nothing better than chilling with a warm blanket (hot chocolate and snacks at the ready) to watch a Christmas movie is there? This year I've made it my mission to watch as many as possible and have decided to make a list of my all time favourites and the classics that everyone needs to watch this Christmas. A no brainer and my absolute favourite. Elf really is the perfect feel good movie to watch during the festive season and Buddy's love of Christmas is infectious. As a huge lover of Christmas I do feel like I relate to his passion for Christmas and personally think I would have made a great elf, should I have grown up in the North Pole - but hey, I guess that is one talent wasted! Without fail I will always watch this movie, usually multiple times because it never gets old and that is why I've had to put it at the top of this list! Another one for the family and a true classic. The Grinch is a oddly lovable character and the adaption of Dr. Se...

This weekend consisted of a Christmas preparations trip to Southampton, mostly to get our Christmas tree but there were also a few other bits to do! I know there are pros and cons of getting a real or fake tree but there is something so exciting about going to choose it and being surrounded by the iconic pine scent, it really makes me feel so Christmassy and sort of marks the start of the festive period. You could probably spend hours looking at different trees and trying to decide which is the best looking one but once we had finally agreed we took it back to the car and headed into the town. After getting some lunch I headed to a shops in search of a Christmas jumper, I'm always really picky with the ones I like so I knew it would take up some time. Unfortunately it seemed that a lot of them had sold out but hey I suppose that is the beauty of online shopping isn't it! Luckily it wasn't a complete waste of time as I did spot a few different things that could be po...

So it's officially December and my favourite month of the year! This is my first year blogging around Christmas and I'm going to attempt to do some form of Blogmas, my intention is to do the '12 days of Blogmas' but we'll see if I stick to that. Anyway here is day 1! I found it hard to come up with a favourites list for November as I've mostly been sticking to what I know, but there are a few things I wanted to share! Beauty - Aussie Conditioner has always a firm favourite for me but I hadn't used it for a while so grabbed a little travel size and well let's just say, I'm going to be needing a bigger bottle! I felt like my hair felt a little dry and this conditioner was the perfect pick me up, my is left feeling so smooth and smelling absolutely amazing! I used the 3 Minute Miracle one but there are a few varieties, depending on what you need. Food -  I'm currently obsessed with Lindt Lindor balls, and to be honest you can't really b...

So it's that time of the year again where everyone eats way too much sugar, buys pointless plastic rubbish to 'decorate' and Pumpkins fill shops everywhere. I'll be honest, I don't really get into Halloween anymore, I liked to dress up and go trick or treating when I was younger but it sort of loses it's fun when you're older. However I have come up with a few ideas of things you can do if you don't have anything planned for Halloween! Treats To Last Until Christmas One of the best things about Halloween is the excuse it gives you to pig out on junk. There are endless possibilities to the Halloween themed sweets, chocolate and other snacks and you certainly don't have to be a child to enjoy them! In fact I think we have it better of than them as essentially we get all the goods without having to walk around in the cold asking for them! We don't get a lot of trick-or-treater's in my road so we always end up with things left over, but wh...