What I have loved this year!! My Friday favourites on a Sunday!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!! I am doing something a little different this week with the things that I have loved, instead of things from the past week I am picking my favourite things from my whole year and to confuse things even more I am posting it on a Sunday, usually today would be my Project 365 blog post but I am saving that until Wednesday so I can finish off the year all in one post and to be honest I wanted to enjoy Christmas with my family so this post was written a couple of weeks ago so I didn't have to worry about blog writing.

TV!

There has been some great TV over the last year, my favourite things that I watched were Squid Game, Stranger Things, All Her Fault, Toxic Town, Apple Cider Vinegar, Lockerbie: A Search for Truth, Scamanda, Adolescence, Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke, The Twister: Caught in the Storm, Paddington in Peru, Doctor Who, American Murder: Gabby Petito, Grey's Anatomy, Nonnas, Ginny & Georgia, Wednesday, The Traitors, The Handmaids Tale, My Oxford Year and of course all of the wrestling!

Painting my nails!

This year I made a point of doing a bit more self care and painting my nails became my little weekly ritual. I’ve been all the colours under the sun. Every now and again I give my nails a rest and it feels so strange not having colour on them. I love how something so small can make you feel a bit more put together even if the rest of my life is falling apart.

Temu!

I hate the idea of Temu but I gave in this year and placed a few orders. I always make sure to pay with Paypal as I have heard horror stories about peoples bank accounts being wiped out but they do sell some fantastic stuff at great prices. I really rate the decorations for special events like birthdays and Christmas and things to do with TV shows like Grey's Anatomy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and anything WWE. I have also found them to be cheaper than eBay and Amazon for some things, the delivery takes a few weeks so everywhere else is better for convenience.

The Country Show!

We always have such a great day at the country show that happens near us. It’s one of those proper wholesome days out with the animals, stalls, the smell of chips in the air, someone somewhere selling wooden ducks for no reason. This year the girls had their friends with them so Stu and I had the day to ourselves. We basically wandered around like we were on a day date, pointing at tractors and eating burgers at 10am. We also saw my dad and his partner there with his vintage car. He does love showing it off. Every time I see him with it he has that proud parent face. It’s very cute.

Football!

We have been right into watching the football over the last year. Newcastle United, the team we support did pretty well last season and won the Carabao cup and England's ladies did pretty well too! The Lionesses went and won the Euro's! I am hoping the men's football team does just as well in the World Cup next year.

Lots of family time!

The girls have had a busy year which means there’s been less quality family time so when we have had the chance to be together I’ve grabbed it with both hands. It won’t be long before one or both of them move out and I feel like I’m living on borrowed time having them mostly to myself. We’ve had days out, meals out, movie nights, stay at home and do nothing days and lots and lots of laughs. I love those moments where everyone is in the same room but doing their own thing but it still feels cosy and together. I’ve also spent loads of time with my dad, my brother and his family and I had a fab day out with my dad’s partner at the world’s biggest Primark in Birmingham.

Ellie's new/old bed!

I don’t even know who came up with the idea of shortening Ellie’s bed to give her more room in her bedroom but it happened and it worked! She has a metal bed frame and a couple of inches were chopped off the length and it was all put back together and it's perfect! It sounds dramatic to say it changed her life but it genuinely did. Suddenly her bedroom made sense, she has so much more floor space, a dressing table she actually uses every day, a clothes rail and even the motivation to keep it tidy. Miracles do happen.

A few nights away!

We had a few nights away during the year and every single one felt like the biggest treat. Stu and I had a Valentine’s Day away, just the two of us and it was lovely. No kids, no responsibilities, just us pretending we were young and carefree again. I had a night away with Becky as a late Mother’s Day gift when we went to see Whitney - The Candlelight Concert. The whole evening was gorgeous. We did have a week away booked in October but life happened and we decided to play safe and cancel. We still had days out though and made the most of everyone being off work and had a cheeky night away!

Gousto meals!

I have stuck with Gousto over the year, getting recipe boxes delivered most weeks. They sent out an email like a Spotify Wrapped for food and I was far too excited about it. Apparently we had 32 boxes delivered, ate 85 different recipes and explored 13 cuisines! I love how it makes meal planning easier. No more standing in front of the fridge wondering what combination of random ingredients will make an actual meal. It’s made cooking fun again and we’ve tried so many things we never would have picked ourselves.

The Garden!

My garden was a bit hit and miss this year but I enjoyed growing what I did. The sunflowers were a huge success, my tallest being about 6ft tall. My flowers did amazingly well and were still going strong well into November. I did so well with the cucumbers and my tomatoes were late coming but I grew more than a few handfuls.

Katie Van Slyke

TikTok showed me a woman, Katie Van Slyke from Tennessee who has a farm. She breeds horses and other animals and I have followed along, watching and have become so invested in her animals. Her mini goats got me hooked when they were pregnant and I've watched the baby goats being born and grow up, mini horses been born, cried when a horse died and lately I have been watching all the new born calves. Soon it will be foaling season for the horses and I am very excited.

A tattoo!

Not mine, my youngests. Ellie got a tattoo a few months ago, at the time it wasn't my favourite but it's growing on me! It's so funny but I keep forgetting that she has it especially at this time of year with her wearing long sleeved tops. She loves it and is so proud of it.

An empty house!

As much I have loved the family time we have had over the last year I have enjoyed having an empty house while the girls have been out doing their own thing, at work or with friends. They both seem to have the best social life and as much as I miss them they're not here it makes me happy they are out in the world loving life.

John Cena!

I've loved him most years, he is/was on the top WWE stars. What a rollercoaster ride the last year has been since he announced his retirement! He's been on our screens for 20 years and has worked hard. This year though, I went from loving him, to hating him when he turned bad guy and then loving him again.

Heart Musicals!

Since I discovered Heart Musicals radio station it is just about all I have listened to apart from the last few weeks when it has been Christmas music! I listen to it through the radio app on my TV. It has all the musical hits from the likes of Wicked, Les Mis, The Greatest Showman, Frozen, Chicago, Hamilton. I’ve been walking around my house, singing like I’m on stage at the West End.

What have been your favourite things in 2025?

This week my Word of the Week is: Christmas!! #WotW

This week my Word of the Week is:

It has to be! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, whatever you were doing.

I worked through my Christmas Eve to-do list and got everything done and by teatime I was ready for a sit down. I got lots of the Christmas dinner cooked in advance so there was less to do on Christmas Day, it worked out really well.

We were up early on Christmas Day at half past seven, just in time for Becky and her friend getting in from work. Becky's friend was staying with us over Christmas so she didn't have to rely on a lift to and from work with there being no buses. We were up so early so we could all open our presents together! Everyone was spoilt rotten! The girls had a few surprises which they were happy about and so did I. I got some perfume off Stu, which I wasn't expecting, a fab Bon Jovi mug and from my dad, a tonne of bath stuff, which might seem a normal gift but coming from my dad it isn't, he is so not into girly things so it was a big surprise.

The morning was spent going through our presents, speaking to family on the phone and helping Ellie set up her new phone. She takes security seriously and has a different password for everything and never writes them down, so that was fun. It's a good job I kept a record of her login details for her bank because she didn't have a clue as she uses her fingerprint to log in to most things but when you have a new phone you have to log in to everything first before using your fingerprint.

We could have eaten Christmas dinner at midday as most of it was ready but it felt so strange to be eating that early on Christmas Day, so we held off until about 2pm. It was just Stu, Ellie and I as Becky was still sleeping for work. I'm blowing my own trumpet here and I have to say the Christmas dinner was one of the best I have ever made! We ate our fill and then relaxed for the afternoon.

Just after half past five, Becky and her friend were up and out of bed and were ready for their Christmas dinner. I always think I am just an OK cook and I get nervous cooking for other people, but the friend said the food was amazing! Phew! I also made them a packed lunch to take to work full of picky bits like pork pies, sausage rolls, chicken bits and things like that. They loved it and were so grateful as there would have been no buying snacks from the shop with it being closed. It might even have convinced Becky that packed lunches are a good thing and she doesn't need to spend money each evening at work buying food. Hehehe.

Yesterday we spent the day doing nothing much at all apart from watching the new episodes of Stranger Things. We slept until late and ate lots and we didn't even bother getting dressed properly. It was the best PJ day ever!

How was your Christmas? I hope it was as wonderful as ours. I don't think Anne is hosting her Word of the Week linky this week but I do like writing these posts.

Doing nothing! Our Boxing Day routine!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas Day! Ours was lovely. We were up early to open presents with Becky when she got in from work and the day was spend doing nothing much apart from watching TV, eating and exploring our presents.

Boxing Day in the UK really comes in two very different flavours. There’s the out in the wild version where people voluntarily go on chilly morning runs, take part in Boxing Day Dips in the freezing sea, head to pubs packed with football fans yelling at screens and then there’s my version of Boxing Day. The quiet, cosy, no one speak to me unless it’s about snacks or a TV remote version.

The day always begins with a lie in because we have no plans for today. There's no need for any sort of alarm clocks and we sleep until we wake and roll out of bed, whenever our bodies decide it's time! Then the most important part of the day begins: changing into the Boxing Day outfit and by outfit I obviously mean brand new pyjamas that I received yesterday, fluffy socks and oversized hoodies are all encouraged too. Usually Stu has the cheek to suggest getting dressed properly in case we go out later and the rest of us will just stare at him like he's suggested something truly crazy!

Breakfast slowly merges into brunch or even lunch. It will be nothing fancy, I'll grab a croissant, they are a boxing day treat and cover in in leftover cranberry sauce. I will also find myself nibbling on cold roast potatoes every time I walk through the kitchen and pigs in blankets and mini sausage rolls. Today will be all about the leftover food. Sandwiches stacked with turkey,  stuffing, cranberry sauce, the Christmas trifle and the snacks never truly stop with bowls of crisps, mince pies and there is of course all the tubs of chocolate which I always overbuy because I panic that we’ll run out (we never do).

The afternoon tends to be one long, cosy stretch of nothingness. We will watch a lot of TV. Boxing Day becomes catch up day watching the Christmas specials we missed yesterday, then we move on to films we’ve seen 37 times but still love and Stu will be watching the football, shouting at the TV like the players can actually hear him.

By this point I’ve lost all sense of time. Is it 2pm or 7pm? Who knows and who cares. I’m still in my pyjamas and staying this way until bedtime and while I could be sensible and make something light for dinner, not a chance. Boxing Day is all about round two of Christmas dinner. I always enjoy the Christmas dinner on Boxing day as I haven't had to stand in the kitchen for long and the microwave does all the work. Turkey, stuffing, mash, veg will all be reheated to perfection. The plate looks very similar to yesterday’s just slightly messier and without the pressure of everything needing to be served nicely.

Today is all about not rushing, no pressure, just comfort, leftovers and the kind of laziness you don’t even feel guilty about. It's the one day a year where doing nothing feels right!

What do you have planned for today??

Merry Christmas! Here’s a little note from me!

Here we are, Christmas Day! Can you believe how quickly it’s come around again? One minute I was wondering if it was too early to buy mince pies and now here I am, last night with the turkey cooking in the oven, a glass of bucks fizz and my Christmas pj's on.

I won’t keep you long, today’s all about soaking up the magic, eating far too much chocolate before noon and spending time with your favourite people. Whether you’re surrounded by family chaos, enjoying a quiet festive day or somewhere in between, I hope you find a moment to take it all in and feel that cosy glow that only Christmas brings.

If you’re reading this today here’s to you! May your day be filled with laughter, good food and maybe a nap that lasts just long enough to wake up in time for pudding. I hope your Christmas is everything you need it to be: joyful, peaceful and a little bit sparkly. Now go on get back to your celebrations! I’ll be doing the same, probably wearing a paper crown at a very questionable angle and wondering if there’s room for just one more roast potato.

Wishing you and your loved ones the merriest Christmas and a new year full of lovely things.

With love,

Kim xxx