Christmas traditions!

Can you believe it's December already?! I'm struggling to get my head round it! With only 22 days left until Christmas, I think that my blog will mostly consist of Christmas posts for a little while...I hope you don't mind!

I thought I'd start off with a little post about Christmas traditions. I think when I was younger, I had a lot more, but I'm happily expanding them too!

1. Piling the presents

I am ALWAYS the first person in the house up, and I'm 'banned' from waking anyone up before 8. That means I have 2 and a half hours to kill before getting up, so to take up some of that time, I go downstairs, to all the presents, and put them in piles in front of the sofa for each person. Then, when they come down, they find their pile and sit with it! 

2. After dinner games

This may not exactly count as a tradition, but every Christmas after dinner, we play things like cluedo, monopoly, some card game I always forget the name of, and whatever extra game my mums bought that year. 

3. Playing Just Dance

My mums got in to the habit of buying me the newest Just Dance EVERY Christmas. I've never had to buy any of them, because I just have to wait and get it. So that means that every evening, we push the sofa back and dance off alllllllll the chocolate. 

4. Reading

Not just any book...'The night before Christmas'. Every year just before bed I read this (how sad does that sound?) But it just reminds me of the fact that it's Christmas day. 

5. Snow walks

This is quite a new one really, but every afternoon we take my 2 dogs for a walk over the snowy hills whilst sniffling from the cold!

6. Stocking delivery

Oh dear, now this will sound a bit of an odd one. My friend actually started this tradition with me a little while back. She knocks on my door every year late on Christmas Eve. I open the door to see her dressed as an elf, my other friend dressed as Santa, and Santa's dog dressed as a reindeer, then I get given a nice little stocking, a kiss on the cheek and then they leave. It's a bit odd, but I go with it because it's nice and pretty sweet.

7. Ornaments

Me and my brother have made this little tradition where every year, one of the presents we get for each other is some sort of tree decoration... I'm looking forward to when I move out one day, having them all on my tree so I can remember what a great brother I have :)

I think that's about it! Some of them you may not think really count as Christmas traditions, but they do to me! I'm glad I have them, because they make the day that bit more special!
Do you have any special Christmas traditions? Do we share any?

Speak to you soon!

Bye!

                                   Abbie

                                    xxx

(All images taken from weheartit.com)

My mini Christmas gift guide!

Helloooo!

Once again, I've gone more than a week without posting. I really need to get my head round frequent posting... *Sets reminder in phone*.

I have been getting SO excited for Christmas recently (39 days!) and I've already started to buy some gifts for my friends. When looking for something to blog about, I thought 'Why not just blog my presents for people?' So...I am. I say this is a Christmas gift guide just because I hope my idea may spark some inspiration for you. 

So, for my close friends that aren't exactly my best friends, this is what I am doing. I thought the best way to do this would be to do a step by step guide I guess?

I'm also really sorry for the lack of photos in this post! I did try to transfer all my iPod photos on to my laptop, but my laptop decided to throw a tantrum and refuse. It's also refusing to copy and paste. Hurumph. When it comes down from it's strop, I'll come back and add some photos.

Step 1

Get a few Christmas gift bags in a medium to small size. You'll need as many as the amount of people you do this for.

Step 2

Get some mini gift sets. Things like lip balms, glosses, body spray, shower gels, body butters, what ever you want! I've gotten lots of miniatures, but obviously you can do full sized things.

Step 3

Open them all! Yep, just rip off all that packaging.

Step 4

Get one of each miniature (or full sized) and put it in one of the bags. Make sure every bag has one of each item from your different gift sets. 

Step 5

If you want to, wrap up all of the miniatures. After all, what is Christmas without ripping off the wrapping paper? And also, it is fun to wrap things (Or is it just me?)

Step 6

Close up your bags. You can add ribbon to the straps to make them look prettier. Tie some tags on and write the names and a nice little message on each one.

Step 7

Wait until nearer Christmas, and then hand them out to your friends

Step 8

Feel all proud when all your friends thank you for their amazing presents!

So, let me know what YOU are doing for your friends and maybe it'll give me some inspiration as well.  

Talk to you later!

Abbie!

xxx

Brighten your day!

Oh Autumn, how I love you! The golden crisp leaves and the excuse to drag your duvet downstairs and curl up in front of the fire. The perfect time to pull on a fluffy pair of socks and warm boots, and wear your favourite winter coat. You're sudden past time is sitting with a hot chocolate and watching the rain trickle down your window. 

However, the darkness can put a certain gloom over your mood. The dreariness is shown in our emotions, and occasionally we forget how to smile. So, what can we do to keep the Autumn gloom away in day-to-day life?

Well, you just have to remember the things that make you happy! 

What makes me happy?

Source: weheartit.com

My friends - Just a hug from a friend makes me feel happy. I have an amazing group of friends that always make me laugh, and I know I could go to any of them for help or advice or just if I'm feeling down

My family - this really will sound cheesy, but I love my family so much. My brother is my go to guy, and although we argue I can count on him for ANYTHING, and I hope he feels the same.

Good memories - what makes you smile more than anything? Looking back at an amazing memory and just bursting out laughing or sitting there with a silly grin on your face!

Relaxing - I'm still at school, so my life is filled with homework and revision, mix that in with trying to blog and come up with ideas, and just doing normal teenage stuff, it's a lot. It's so nice to just be able to sit down from time to time, with a magazine like Elle or Cosmopolitan (or more teenage ones likes bliss) and just read with a hot chocolate in my hand and a lush face mask on my face.

Testing new products - one thing that I love is finding a beauty product that you really love. One that you can commit to, and does wonders! I find that magazines help this one a lot. You often get free samples of things like foundation ( which reminds me, I really need to see how much that clarins foundation is, because I am in love with it!) as well as the main freebie, for example I recently got benefits sunbeam and a misguided lipgloss from some magazines...

Walks with my puppies - well, I guess I can't really call them puppies anymore, but I love taking them for long walks. I live in quite a green area, so Autumn is the most amazing time for scenery. Also, it's pretty funny watching my dogs chase geese on the canal path, an then get really scared when the geese honk at them :')

Blogging - I haven't had my little blog for long, and I haven't many followers, but I cherish every follower I have. I'm pretty sure my posts are actually quite boring, but knowing somebody wants I read it is really heart warming. I do try my best to update frequently, but I know I don't really do that. I've noticed a HUGE increase of page views recently, and it makes me feel amazing!

Planning for Christmas - yes, I know, it's only October , but the big say is getting closer and closer. I'm one of those people that doesn't give a damn what I get from people, or if I get nothing at all, but absolutely love giving people presents. I've been collecting all the catologues, and planning what to get people. However this has made me realise how desperately I need job. So you know, if you need any one to work for you, I'm ya gal! Haha!

So, what makes you happy?
Maybe you could leave it in the comments...? :)
Talk to you next time!
Abbie!
xxx