My December playlist: Festive cheer & Zero Buble!

Every December something strange happens to me. I go from being a perfectly reasonable human to someone with very strong feelings about Christmas music!! One minute I’m feeling all calm and twinkly and the next I’m acting like a security guard of my own playlist! It’s crazy how a song can flip your whole mood. One jingle and I’m ready to deck the halls and another and I’m contemplating a long walk into the snow. hehehe So welcome to my December playlist: the good, the bad, the absolutely not on my listen list!

Fairytale of New York - The Pogues

The second those opening notes start I don’t care what I’m doing, I could be wrestling with wrapping paper or trying to find the end of the Sellotape for the 400th time. I’m transported straight into a pub at Christmas where everyone’s singing loudly, no one knows all the lyrics and someone’s spilled their beer but no one cares because it’s festive.

Feliz Navidad - Jose Feliciano!

If joy had a soundtrack this would be it! I could be having the worst morning known to humankind but three seconds into this song and I’m smiling like I’ve just won the lottery! There’s no emotional backstory, no drama, just an instant good mood. 

I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday - Wizzard!

This song feels like sugar, glitter and someone who’s had too many Quality Streets. It’s loud, it’s joyful and it has the energy of a kid who’s been up since 4am asking if Santa came. 

Underneath the Tree - Kelly Clarkson!

This song turns me into a woman who thinks she can sing. I can't, not even a little but Kelly comes in with that festive power and suddenly I’m belting the chorus like I’m auditioning for a Christmas special. 

All I Want for Christmas Is You - Mariah Carey!

People pretend they’re too cool for it until that twinkly intro starts. Mariah owns December and I support her reign. If loving this song is basic then hand me my hot chocolate and leave me be!

Driving Home for Christmas - Chris Rea!

I don’t drive. I don’t even understand road signs but this song makes me feel like I’m gliding along a snowy motorway in a red car wearing a festive scarf, heading home to my family. It’s soothing, gentle and nobody is crying about heartbreak.

Merry Christmas Everyone - Shakin Stevens!

It’s the musical equivalent of a sparkly jumper your nan knitted you, slightly ridiculous but impossible not to love. It makes everything feel soft and snowy even when it’s just raining sideways like a typical December.

Step Into Christmas - Elton John!

It sounds like Elton bursts through your door shouting put your coat on, we’re going out and that’s the kind of energy I need in December!

Do They Know It’s Christmas? - Band Aid

Big and dramatic! It's not something you sing quietly while making tea it’s definitely a sing out loud song! 

Merry Xmas Everybody - Slade! 

It basically kicks the door in and shouts IT’S CHRIIIIIIISTMAS like someone who’s had three Snowballs before lunch. The second Noddy Holder starts yelling, every British person suddenly remembers it’s December. It’s crazy, loud and feels like being hugged by an overexcited relative!

What's not on my playlist and why! 

Anything Michael Bublé!

I know he is a lovely person, he seems like the kind of man who’d help you carry your shopping but the second he starts singing Christmas songs I can feel my soul leaving my body. There’s just something a bit too smooth, too perfect and slightly smug about him. It's like he knows he’s the soundtrack to half of December and he’s fine with it.

Anything overly repetitive or novelty!

Novelty Christmas songs are funny once maybe twice but Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer or I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas quickly crosses the line into chaos. After the second chorus, I start questioning my sanity! 

Last Christmas - Wham!

I loved George Michael, the man had charisma, style and a voice that made you feel things you didn’t even know you were supposed to feel but Last Christmas! Ugh. You can’t escape it. You hear it in every shop, every cafe, every random playlist and suddenly it’s less a festive classic and more a background noise that makes you question why you ever liked it in the first place!

Festive remixes!

Overly modern pop remixes of the classics! Don’t give me Silent Night the DJ Frostbite remix or O Holy Night featuring a random rapper! Nothing ruins my mood faster than a techno remix of a classic carol. No, thank you!

Long instrumental tracks!

They're lovely for about 40 seconds but after that, my brain starts itching. I don’t need a 10 minute jazzy piano version of Silent Night. I can’t wrap presents for 10 minutes straight to that sort of noise, it's just cruel! 

What are your favourite Christmas songs? Which don't you like?

Floor, tape and Marvel movies: My Christmas wrapping routine!

Every year without fail I tell myself the same thing: This year I’ll be ahead of the game, by the beginning of December all the presents will be wrapped, stacked neatly under the tree and I’ll even have time to sip a hot chocolate and watch Christmas movies! hahaha.

Here we are middle of December and somehow not much is wrapped, in fact nothing is! The rolls of paper are still rolled, the ribbons untouched and the scissors are already missing! I even got my eldest to buy some new one's yesterday and those are lost too. The pile of gifts is more of a mountain and as much as I say I hate doing the wrapping, I am sort of looking forward to it. There’s something about wrapping presents that is part of the magic of Christmas.

I’ve tried over the years to have a proper place to wrap presents like at the dining room table or even sitting on the sofa but I always end up on the floor. It’s just easier. I spread everything out, claim a corner of the living room as my own and just deal with the fact that I will have a numb bum and legs for the next couple of hours.

The floor is where it happens, there's a mix of scattered paper scraps, sticky tape stuck to everything it shouldn’t be and a pile of all the price tags if I remember to pull them off. There’s something nice about sitting there, it’s part of the wrapping routine even with the the mess, losing the end of the tape and the way the paper always seems to roll back on itself . Hmmf.

I begin every wrapping, scissors in my hand, ready to slice through paper like a pro but 10 minutes later the scissors are gone! I know I had them, I can see myself holding them but somehow they disappear! Then comes the tape. It sticks to everything except the gift it’s supposed to stick to. I spend half my wrapping time untangling the tape from itself, trying not to scream and the other half of my time trying to find the end of it! I even have one of those tape holders which should make my life easier but it doesn't!

After years of mix ups and lost gift tags I finally found a system that works for me: one wrapping paper design for my eldest and a completely different one for my youngest. There's no guessing and no panicked moments on Christmas morning. The paper itself is the tag!

No wrapping session is complete without some background entertainment. For the last 5 years or so I have watched Avengers: Infinity War while I wrap one of my girls presents and my dad's birthday and Christmas presents. My reason being that it is a decent length film and gives me plenty of time and then when I have my 2nd day of wrapping my other girls presents and everyone else's I watch Avengers: End Game! In total the movies are about 5 and a half hours long so that's plenty of time to wrap everything! The films make the process feel less like work and more like a tradition. I don’t wrap faster, but I wrap happier!

The presents are never wrapped perfectly and it takes time to tidy up but it's all part of the wrapping routine. Even if I tell myself next year everything will be wrapped by the beginning of December I know deep down it won’t happen but that’s OK.

When do you wrap the Christmas presents and where?

Share our Lives: How I stay Connected to my girls now they're older!

It's that time of the month again, time to join in with the Share Our Lives bloggers and the prompt is: Staying connected with kids/spouse/significant other! I chose to go with how I stay connected to my girls now that they're older.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned as a mam of two adult daughters it’s that staying connected is about the small everyday things, they really count! The quiet conversations, the shared TV shows and the texts about silly things. Connection doesn’t stop when they stop needing you to tie their shoes or walk them to school, it just changes.

So how do I stay connected to them through all these changes? I’m sharing what works for me and my girls!

Make time, even when life is busy!

Life never seems to slow down. Between work, house stuff and trying to remember what day it is there's always something else that needs doing but I’ve learned that if I don’t make time it won’t magically appear. I always make a point of having a chat with my girls when they get in from work or college or make them come into the kitchen for a chat while I am cooking tea. When they are in for the day, off college or work I always make a point making time to do something with them, I mostly always change my plans so I can spend some quality time with my favourite people.

Respect their independence!

This one’s a bit harder. When they were little they needed me for everything but as they've grown up they need me in different ways, more as a supporter than a director. I’ve learned not to barge into their world but to wait to be invited. Sometimes they want to spend time in their rooms and not downstairs with me and it's OK. I give them room to breathe and let them know I'm there without hovering. It shows I trust them which helps keep the lines of communication open.

Be silly together!

One of the best ways I connect with my girls is through laughter. I’ve been known to send ridiculous memes, attempt TikTok dances (badly) and belt out cheesy pop songs in the kitchen. It breaks the tension, lifts the mood and reminds them that mam is still fun even if she’s wearing slippers and complaining about her back. It could be a TV show, inside joke or complete nonsense, that silliness can build strong bonds.

Listen without fixing unless they ask you to!

This one took me a while to get right. I’m a fixer by nature and want to solve all of their problems. When they come to me upset my brain immediately goes: right here’s what we’re going to do but often they don’t want fixing they want me to listen. A safe place to vent, cry or just talk things out. It takes a lot of practice to listen without jumping in. They know that I am there for them and if they need me they only have to ask.

Share your life too!

Connection is a two way street. I’ve found that when I open up about my own day, my feelings and even my mess ups it encourages them to do the same. I don’t mean oversharing every little stress but letting them see that I’m human too. If I’ve had a bad day I’ll say it. If I’ve learned something the hard way, I’ll share it. It makes our relationship more real not just parent and child but women supporting each other.

Send little check ins!

Texts might seem basic but they’re magic! A quick what are you up to, a funny meme or a how did that thing go today? It shows you’re paying attention. It's not being nosy, it's just letting them know that I care. I send texts, voice notes, snapchat or even cute little handwritten notes.

Keep your traditions alive or make new ones!

Some of our strongest connections come from the traditions we’ve built. Friday night pizza, Saturday evening in front of the TV, crisp sandwiches for lunch on a lazy day or watching a cheesy Christmas film in July. Even as they grow these little rituals them smile and something to look forward to. As the girls have got older the old traditions didn't work anymore so we created new ones that fit our lives now. The point isn’t what you do, it’s that you do it together.

Don’t expect perfection from you or them!

Some days are hard, I'm not going to lie and say we live the perfect life. They can be moody and so can I, we can be tired or they can be busy doing their own thing. There are times I say the wrong thing or miss a cue that one of them is struggling. I’ve learned to say, I got that wrong and sorry.

Staying connected to my daughters as they get older isn’t always easy but it’s one of the greatest privileges of my life. We’re not always in perfect harmony but we’re in it together which matters more than anything.

I am linking up with:

Adrienne from Mom Life with Adrienne.

Dara from Not In Jersey.

Jen from Show me & Sweet tea.

Joanne from Slices of Life.

Sarah from Toronto Sam.

Our weekly meal plan! 8th - 14th December! #MealPlanningMonday

Happy Monday! I hope you are all having a good start to the week. Last weeks meal plan went well, I swapped a couple of meals around, of course I did. I think it's a given my meal plan rarely goes 100% to plan. We ended up getting pasties from Greggs on Monday instead of using the one's out of the freezer on Thursday and had fish and chips on Friday from the chip shop. I did get my freezer defrosted and it didn't take as long as I thought so that's a good thing.

I feel like this week is going to be a busy one. We are doing the big food shop for all the freezer stuff and I am going to get all the presents wrapped. Wish me luck, I hate wrapping but hopefully by the end of this week a big chunk of my Christmas to-do list will be done! I'm also going to drop some presents off to family and I must give the kids a nagging to make sure they have bought everything that they need to. Every year there’s always one who suddenly remembers they forgot something three days before Christmas and guess who ends up sorting it! So the nagging shall begin to make my future life easier.

On the menu this week we have:

Monday - A surprise!

Today is going to be a total surprise as I will pick something up while I am out. It could be anything but I do know that's it going to be something that needs minimal preparing and cooking.

Tuesday - Gousto meal - Pork, Apple & Sage Potato Topped Pie!

Pork and apple in a hearty potato topped pie. Infused with aromatic sage and served with green vegetables and of course gravy! This one is new to us but we love anything with sage at this time of year and I’ve never met a potato topped anything I didn’t like.

Wednesday - Gousto - Thai-Style Yellow Chicken Curry With Rice!

Juicy chicken in a fragrant blend of ginger, garlic, turmeric and curry powder with a creamy coconut stock. Finished with a squeeze of lime and served over fluffy rice.

Thursday - Gousto meal - Bacon & Garlic Mushrooms With Creamy Mash!

Sauteed mushrooms with crispy bacon, butter and plenty of garlic. Served on a bed of creamy mashed potato with tenderstem broccoli. This is comfort food at its finest!

Friday - Pizza!

A fail safe Friday plan. Everyone will be happy including me because there’s basically no washing up.

Saturday - Picky bits!

The best kind of Saturday tea. I’m stocking up on all the little party bits: Oriental platters, Indian platters with prawn toast, onion bhajis, samosas, spring rolls, all the beige food groups. I’ll probably add some cheese and crackers too because it is December and December is eat whatever makes you smile season!

Sunday - Mince and tatties!

Savoury minced beef (ground beef) cooked in a rich gravy with onions and carrots, served alongside creamy mashed potatoes

What are you eating this week?