Did someone say it's nearly Christmas?

There is only one way of getting yourself in the festive spirit; by whole-heartedly submerging yourself in all the seasonal fun, festivities and total overindulgence.

I took a massive lesson from last year when Christmas almost seemed to pass me by as there was so much going on in the lead up. So this year I was determined to keep my eyes wide open to it all and enjoy every second. 


I made an effort to be super prepared with Christmas present buying, invested in a whole host of new Christmas decorations to make the flat even more festive and started the month celebrating with my girls. 

And, when I had a few days off with Dan, we started as we meant to go on, with a trip to central London (yes we are mad). 

But we couldn't help but make a pit stop at The Diner in Carnaby Street before setting our sites on the rest of the day.

If you don't know about The Diner, you should get yourself down to one pronto. They specialise in all the American goodness you could wish for; juicy, succulent burgers, hot dogs, hard milkshakes (aka with alcohol), soft milkshakes (without alcohol) and some of the best fries in town! 


So, naturally Dan and I opted for burgers each. I had the Californian with added jalepenos to give it that extra kick. It was delicious, creamy guacamole, cheddar, pickle, tomato (although I held off the onion), it just worked. And of course to accompany I had the Diner fries, thin cut chips with Cajun spice, and washed it all down with a Rusty Mule which is fast becoming my go-to tipple of choice. Dark Rum, lime slices and ginger beer. 

Sufficiently full to bursting we rolled out into the cold to start our shopping. But I must admit it didn't really go to plan. We wanted to go to the Converse store which used to be above Size? but the pop up had become dedicated to Nike, which although pretty cool, wasn't ideal.

We then turned our sights onto visiting the MAC store but it was so busy you couldn't really move and the staff weren't that interested in giving a helping hand, clearly overwhelmed by the amount of people so we quickly backtracked thinking that we'd have more luck in Liberty. HA! Who were we kidding, that was rammed too, and although the staff were of course helpful, I was just getting a bit frustrated so ended up leaving and feeling slightly overwhelmed. 

Time to get out of the rat race! Although I had that feeling, you know the feeling when you're not satisfied, you came out for a purpose and you haven't bought anything. So we took a break, had a bit of a wander round taking in the Christmas lights and popped into a few shops without the 'pressure of purchase' which I definitely suffer from. But when the pressure was off things took a turn for the better, I even managed to pick myself up a hat, what do you think?

Next, we ended up at Selfridges. I love it in here at Christmas, everything is so special and just all together more indulgent. They take the time to talk to you, go out of their way to help you and offer you spritzes of this, that and the other. We spent some time in the beauty hall picking up a few bits and they were also offering a free engraving service on any perfume bought in store. Such a lovely idea, personalised products are so nice!  

No Christmas weekend experience would be complete without a trip to the cinema either. We are both Lord of the Rings fans and with The Hobbit: Battle of Five Armies being out in the cinema, it was a no brainer. So, pik'n mix and popcorn at the ready we settled down to the three hour long movie. And it did not disappoint  If you're a fan of the franchise I would highly recommend going to check it out! 

I also have to tell you about my little find. I don't shop in Wilko's very often and this wasn't something I thought about putting in my blog, but hey, I'm going with the flow. In Wilko's they have some of the cutest Christmas wrapping accessories ever. I'm talking all manner of wrapping paper and tags and ribbon in every colour you could wish for. Sadly I didn't think about whipping my camera out whilst in the messy aisle, but I did whip out my purse for some of these mini tags and blue and silver ribbon. 

What do you think? I love how it just gives the gift something different. A bit more cute and I couldn't wait to get home and get to finalising my wrapping. 

And then of course there was the decorating of the tree. Now this is a bit of a cheat as we actually put the tree up a while ago, but I haven't shared pictures with you guys yet and I've been adding to it and making other small additions around the house so I thought I'd show you some of my festive efforts. 





Wow, mammoth post. All of that means that all is left is to prepare a roast for Dan and I to tuck into later. But for now, I'm going to spend the rest of the afternoon tucked up on the sofa enjoying Christmas movies, those that I haven't already seen this year anyway (Elf, tick, Santa Claus, tick Just Friends - that counts right, tick, Niko, tick - no its not just for kids!) and fishing off the last of the Quality Streets. 

The Christmas countdown has officially begun in the Lowe-Jeffrey household and I cannot wait!!