Christmas festivities!

... And with a blink of an eye, Christmas is over *sad face*, and we're in to the new year already! I've been so busy these past couple of weeks so I thought I'd write a blog post all about my Christmas festivities and what I got up to!

To start off my 3-week Christmas break from uni, I came home and decorated the house and the tree to make my house feel all festive! I then met up with a group of my friends and we went out for a meal in one of our local independent restaurants in town called Casa. The food and atmosphere always seems to be good in there, however this time it was quiet because it was a Sunday evening, but rest assured our group made up for it (ha!). We all shared where we were at with our lives, and it was so nice to just catch up with friends who I haven't seen in a couple of months as a result of uni!

I had spicy chicken pasta in a creamy sauce with spring onions and cherry tomatoes.. mmm!

A few days later I went to London to visit my boyfriend for the day. Firstly, we went ice skating at the Natural History Museum and it was magical! Listening to christmas music whilst skating around a giant christmas tree was so lovely! Fifty minutes and sore feet/ankles later, we walked to Oxford Street where we had lunch in Pizza Hut and shopped around for a few hours as my boyfriend wanted to buy my christmas present (and he bought me some Nike trainers!). The christmas lights were so pretty, and I got some incredible shots of the lights and the sunset! After we mooched around Oxford Street, we walked to Winter Wonderland, a place I always love to visit at Christmas. Walking around and seeing all of the fairground rides and stalls whilst smelling wafts of hot doughnuts and churros is always so magical and festive! I had such an incredible day.

Just a few snaps of my day in London!

A few days later, my family travelled home from America (my parents and sister are living out there for two years because of my dad's job) and it was so nice to be reunited altogether after 4 months of being apart! I then spent the next few days just chilling and catching up with my family and extended family (so no pictures here I'm afraid!).

On Christmas Eve, me and my family went to our family friends for the evening, which is something we've always done since I was born. We exchange presents, party and consume excessive amounts of alcohol - it's not Christmas if we don't do this!
On Christmas Day, me and my sister always follow the same tradition which is to wake up and open our stocking presents in our parents' bed and then all go downstairs and open even more presents! We then go to my auntie and uncle's on my mum's side of the family for Christmas dinner, alcohol and to veg in front of the TV! In the late afternoon, we go and see my grandparents on my dad's side of the family and pretty much do the same thing (without a second Christmas dinner!). In the early evening, we then go back to my auntie and uncle's on my mum's side and eat turkey sandwiches and fall asleep in front of the TV.
On Boxing Day, my mum's side of the family all come to our house where we have a buffet of food and yet again... veg in front of the TV all day with copious amounts of food and alcohol! We watched Jurassic World, which is such an incredible film! I'm so excited for the next Jurassic World to come out!

The week between Christmas and New Years is always a funny one. It seems to me like everybody feels lost! Nobody knows what day it is, everyone is still eating the food left over from Christmas, and everybody still seems to be partying (in my case anyway!). I didn't really do much during this week except go to my auntie and uncle's for a gathering/party with the rest of my extended family on my dad's side. We drank copious amounts of alcohol (anybody seeing a pattern here?) and just caught up which was lovely.
The next night, myself, my sister and my dad went to my dad's friend's post-wedding party where we yet again, drank excessive amounts of alcohol and ate rather a lot of food! Nothing more needs to be said!

And lastly... New Years Eve! I didn't really do much this year if I'm honest. Usually I'd be out partying with my friends down the local pubs, but this year I decided to have a chilled night in with my boyfriend and it was perfect. He drove down early evening after he finished work and we ordered a Domino's, had a few chilled drinks, watched some films and watched the fireworks! We then spent New Year's Day together having a lazy day with my family, playing Mario Kart on the Wii and watching various shows on Netflix.

I hope you all have had a lovely Christmas and a cracking start to 2018! What are your New Years' resolutions?

Rach,

xoxo