Merry Christmas everyone! I can't believe that it's finally here after weeks of anticipation and I've honestly had such a wonderful and festive day. The Christmas period is probably my favourite time of the year and so I really try to make the most of it when it arrives, not just on the 25th but throughout December. It's the perfect opportunity to get cosy, pamper yourself and feel the festive spirit, so I do everything possible to instil this in my evenings. I thought it'd be nice to share my Christmassy evening routine with you, so I hope you like this post.

The first step to my festive evening routine is getting a nice, warm bath. This is a great way to feel cosy, particularly if you've been out in the cold all day, and never fails to leave me feeling relaxed. If you want to go all-out then why not treat yourself to a festive bath bomb and candles to create the ultimate Christmassy atmosphere. I also like to take this opportunity to check my phone, read a book or listen to some Christmas music to entertain me.

It's important to give my skin a thorough cleanse and take off my makeup using the Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish. This removes any traces of makeup, leaving my skin feeling fresh and gleaming, and I also find that it helps to prevent any spots. If you'd like an in-depth review of this product then you can find that here. I follow up this by toning and moisturising my skin to ensure it's in good condition and protected from the brutal winter weather.

I then like to get cosy and change into my pyjamas. I love wearing my fluffiest ones at this time of year, as it's freezing in December and so they make me feel very cosy and comfortable. Making a hot water bottle is also a nice addition to make me warm, although usually my dog wants is just as much as I do! Once adorned with plenty of blankets and cushions, thus making me incredibly comfortable, the rest of my evening can begin.

Watching Christmas films is a necessity for me throughout December, as it really helps me to get into the festive spirit and I'm actually a huge fan of Christmas films, so I have to watch as many as possible. I personally like to save my favourites until it's very close to Christmas, so it's usually either Elf, Home Alone or The Polar Express that I'll be watching on this day. Whichever one I decide on, you can guarantee that I'll be snacking on chocolates and drinking peppermint tea throughout - the perfect evening snack.

I also spend most of the evening browsing through the Internet on my laptop and phone. I love going through all of the festive posts on Bloglovin and Instagram, as well as chatting to my blogger friends on Twitter, so I spend a lot of my night doing this. Many of my favourite Youtubers also do Vlogmas, so I ensure that I have time to watch all of these throughout the evening.

I like to finish off my evening by reading a book, simply because this is routine for me and helps me get to sleep easily. I love feeling all cosy in bed with a good book, and so this is something I make sure to do on the cold winter evenings. If you're looking for a festive read then I'd definitely recommend What Light by Jay Asher, which I reviewed last week, or My True Love Gave To Me by Stephanie Perkins, as both are incredibly enjoyable novels that put me in a festive mood.

I hope you enjoyed hearing about my festive evening and once again, I'd like to wish you a very Merry Christmas. Thanks for reading this post, I hope you've had a wonderful day and I'll see you next Sunday with a new post.

Love from Daisy x

Probably two of my favourite things are reading and Christmas, so joining the two is the perfect combination. When I first heard about Jay Asher's newest novel, What Light, and how it's set around Christmas, I could tell that it'd be a favourite of mine. This upbeat, lighthearted story is filled with friends, family and festivities that make it a perfect read for the holiday season.


Plot Overview

"Sierra's family runs a Christmas tree farm in Oregon—it's an idyllic setting for a girl to grow up in, except that every year, they pack up and move to California to set up their Christmas tree lot for the season. Sierra lives two lives: her life in Oregon and her life at Christmas. And leaving one always means missing the other. 

Caleb is not your perfect guy: years ago, he made an enormous mistake and has been paying for it ever since. But Sierra sees beyond Caleb's past and becomes determined to help him find forgiveness and, maybe, redemption. As disapproval, misconceptions, and suspicions swirl around them, Caleb and Sierra discover the one thing that transcends all else: true love."



The Characters

I found that all of the characters in What Light were realistic depictions of teens, particularly the main characters, Sierra and Caleb. I really liked the dynamic between them and, although it was quite instant, they had some similar qualities that really made for some adorable and funny moments. The side characters weren't in the way too much but enhanced the storyline in a positive way, all of them being incredibly supportive and good role models, which are definitely desired characteristics.

Sierra is the epitome of an almost-perfect character, but in this context I really liked it. To be honest, constantly reading books where the main character is unrealistically unique and drastically flawed gets quite repetitive, and I wanted something more upbeat and lighthearted, particularly from a Christmas book. Sierra is smart, quirky and a genuinely caring person, making the audience instantly connect with her. She seems to be very intuitive and moral, making her an enjoyable central character to read about and I honestly wanted everything to work out in her favour by the end, simply because she deserves it.

Caleb seems like a kindhearted, charitable character on the surface, but also has a troubled past that he has to deal with. We get a lot of depth and dimensions from him, seeing different motives and aspects of his personality as the plot progresses - a great sign that his character is well-developed. I'll let you decide on where you stand with him and whether you'd forgive Caleb for what happened or not, but either way, I found that his character was a nice addition to the story and definitely added more drama than Andrew and Devon.


The Setting

I was instantly overjoyed when I found out that this book was set around Christmas, so you can imagine my excitement when I found out that it was set on a Christmas tree farm. Although it may seem kind of cheesy for some readers, I found this to be a very magical setting that ensured the novel felt festive throughout. It's also unique, as I'd never before seen a book with a setting comparable to this one, and I was definitely jealous of Sierra living in a constant Christmas environment!


What I Liked

I'm a huge lover of Christmas and therefore I thoroughly enjoyed reading about all of the festive elements that were incorporated. Christmas trees, peppermint mochas, reindeer cookies - you name it and it was included. The entire novel had a really cheery, upbeat atmosphere and the Christmas spirit that was maintained throughout definitely added to this. It had a Hallmark movie feel to it, making it super fun and straight to the point, meaning we could really revel in the festivities. It may be quite a light read but sometimes that's the type of story that I'm in the mood for, especially when it's Christmas and I want something enjoyable and not too heavy.


What I'd Change

Like I said earlier, this novel is a very quick read, so if that's not what you're looking for then this book may not be for you. I'd personally like it to be slightly longer - maybe 100 pages or so - just so the characters and settings could really be developed further. I also found that there wasn't much drama or intense moments in the plot, aside from a few twists here and there, which may bug some readers if you're expecting a huge reveal, but it's also nice to have a more laidback feel from a festive book.


Themes

Aside from the prevalent Christmas theme throughout, this novel has a lot of romance elements, particularly that of insta-love. I know that this is a love-hate trope, but regardless of your opinion, it's nice to see both character's happiness and compatibility, especially at this time of year. Some more serious themes are also discussed in What Light, despite it being a Christmas book. Rumours are heavily emphasised, alongside second chances and judging people, all of which are regular occurrences in our daily lives. This definitely added a truthful, believable sense to the story and added a more serious undertone, proving that Christmas isn't always filled with constant cheer.


The Writing

I'd never read a book by Jay Asher before, despite hearing many people praise his previous book Thirteen Reasons Why, but I have to say that I really enjoyed the writing style. It's informal yet upbeat tone really kept me engrossed while reading and perfectly created the voice of the teenagers. Although I'm a huge fan of thorough descriptions with latinate vocabulary, the lack of this created more realism and sense within the novel, which I surprisingly enjoyed. Also, from a lighthearted Christmas novel that's tailored to be an easy read, the last thing you want is writing that's difficult to understand.


Overall Opinion

Overall, this book was the perfect addition to my holiday reading list and I'd definitely recommend everyone to read it during the festive season. It was filled with heartfelt and funny moments that made it an enjoyable read from cover to cover, and I was definitely smiling throughout. If you're lacking in Christmas spirit this year or want to feel super festive, all it takes is a few pages of this book, so I'd definitely urge you to read it.

Thank you for reading this review and I'd also like to thank Pan Macmillan for sending me this book to read, as I really enjoyed it. I hope you liked this post and I'll be back next week with another one, although I'll be posting it on Saturday instead of Sunday as it's Christmas. Have a nice week and I'll see you then!

Love from Daisy x

I'm back with another festive post! This week, I decided to do my first ever craft-related post, which was very exciting! I made numerous different ornaments and decorations that were inspired by some popular Pinterest hacks, as well as a delicious DIY treat at the end of the post. They're all very straightforward and easy to make, meaning they're perfect for adding some festive flair to your house with Christmas right around the corner.


Salt Dough Christmas Tree


The first craft that I made was a salt dough Christmas tree, which was possibly one of my favourites to create. Whenever I'm on Pinterest, there's always many salt dough craft ideas floating around, and so I wanted to try making one myself, especially since everyone claims that it's very easy. 


To make the salt dough, I started by combining a cup of salt with an equal amount of plain flour. I mixed these together and then began to slowly add water, mixing it first with a spoon and then by hand as it thickened. I continued adding small amounts of water until it reached a dough-like consistency.


At this point, I started to knead the dough and then rolled it out into an even layer. I had five different star-shaped cookie cutters so decided to cut out two of each to make up the Christmas tree. A helpful tip is to make sure you have plenty of flour on your work surface, as otherwise the dough will stick to it and the stars will be hard to lift up.


I used a straw to poke a hole approximately in the centre of each star, as they will eventually be threaded together. I left the dough to sit at room temperature for a few hours before placing them in the oven at gas mark 4 for 2 hours, keeping an eye on them during this time.


Meanwhile, I decided to prepare the plant pot for the Christmas tree. I found some brown buttons in various sizes and decided to glue them together, giving it a homemade feel. It's much easier if you stick one button at a time opposed to glueing all of them and holding it together, as the buttons tend to slide around quite a lot and it's a fiddly process.

The next step was to paint each star. I alternated between a pale grey and white, ensuring that I'd painted the top, bottom and edges of each star. Once these were completely dry, I threaded them together using a piece of string, ensuring that they were in size order to replicate the shape of a Christmas tree. To achieve the best effect, I rotated all of the stars so that they weren't all facing one direction but were instead more mismatched. For the finishing touches, I added a bow to the top and stuck the pot to the base of the tree. I love how this ornament turned out and there's definitely lots of room to personalise it and make it unique.


Speaking of other options for making ornaments with salt dough, I decided to make this gingerbread man with some of the leftover dough. I followed the exact same steps as above, using the straw to create a hole in his head so that string could be added. I painted him white and added a bow around his neck to complete it, and I think this is a fun yet adorable way to use up some of the excess dough.


Scrabble Letter Ornaments 


This craft is easy to achieve and has a handmade aesthetic that I think is very cute and original. I started by deciding what phrase I wanted to make and gathering the right letters. If you don't have any Scrabble letters to use then it's no big deal, as packets of these are sold online and in craft stores. 'Let It Snow' is the phrase that I went for, but some alternatives that I really liked were 'Oh Deer' and 'Santa Paws', which you can see below. It's entirely up to you which phrases you create, but it tends to work best when the words are different sizes.


To create the hanging ornament, I started by glueing all of the letters together in a regular arrangement, so that each word was positioned centrally. Once this dried, I attached a piece of string to the back so that it could be hung from my Christmas tree. The final step to creating this decoration was adding some cotton wool to the top edges to look like fallen snow. I did this using some PVA glue and I feel as though it tied everything together, as well as relating to the phrase I used. I also sprinkled in some iridescent glitter to really make it sparkle and stand out.


Personalised Printables


If you take a look at Pinterest then you'll definitely see a variety of free printables that you can use. I hunted down some Christmassy ones that I liked and printed them off onto A4 card. I think these are all really cute and are an easy way to add some artwork to your house for the festive season, whilst still being budget friendly. The printable that you can see above is from Yellow Bliss Road.


I decided that I wanted to personalise each printable and add to it so that it was unique. I added some iridescent glitter and adhesive gems to enhance the white trees and falling snow, giving the image an extra sparkle and dimension. To finish it off, I placed it in a frame so that it looked like a true piece of artwork, opposed to just a printed image. I really like how this turned out and I think it definitely makes a huge difference without requiring much effort.


This is another alternative which is much simpler yet still looks effective. All it required was to print three 'h's and secure a button next to each one so that it replicated the phrase 'ho ho ho'. I framed this one and added a bell to the corner to add some interest. This is definitely a more minimal route but I still think it's pretty and will take you only a couple of minutes to recreate.


Hanging Button Star


This one was very easy to create, but I wanted something that would feel Christmassy whilst still having a shabby-chic vibe, thus fitting in nicely with my Christmas tree. This is probably the easiest of the crafts to recreate but I still think that it looks very cute, and you can create a variety of different looks based on the size and colour of the buttons you choose.

I arranged some lollypop sticks into the shape of a star and stuck them all together so that it was secure. I then used a variety of buttons to cover each section of the star, ensuring that there were no huge gaps. All of the buttons were of varying sizes and included different colours, mostly being blues, beiges and creams since this is the colour scheme of my house.


To complete this decoration, I attached a piece of string to the back so that it could be hung from my Christmas tree. I really like how this craft turned out and it didn't require much effort to make, so it's definitely one that you can easily recreate at home. You can also play around with different lollypop stick arrangements to create some alternate looks.


Christmas Tree Rice Krispie Treats


It wouldn't be a DIY crafts post without a recipe included! Whenever I'm scrolling through Pinterest I always see some incredible treats and delicious goodies that look almost effortless to create, so I wanted to have a go at one. Considering it's close to Christmas, I made white chocolate and Rice Krispie Christmas trees, which I have to say were delicious! 



I started by taking some baking paper and tracing around a plate to create some circles. You can do these any size that you want, but the bigger they are the larger the finished treats will be. After cutting out the circles, I cut a line across the radius and made the paper into a cone shape. This was secured with sellotape around the outside, to ensure that the cone shape was maintained for the tree shape. 


Afterwards, I melted some white chocolate in a bowl placed over a jug filled with boiling water. Breaking up the chocolate into smaller pieces ensures that it'll melt quicker and evenly, so I'd recommend doing this. I then added green food colouring to match the appearance of a Christmas tree. Initially, I used liquid food colouring but found that this made the chocolate stiffen up and turn into an almost paste-like consistency, which is apparently due to the imbalance between the oil in chocolate and water in the food colouring. 

To prevent this from happening, I used gel food colouring in my second attempt to maintain the thin consistency of melted chocolate. I added about 50 drops to get this shade of green, but you can add more or less depending on what you want. I then stirred in about two handfuls of Rice Krispies, ensuring that they were all coated with chocolate, and then condensed them into the cones. 


After leaving these to set in the fridge and ensuring that they were completely set, I removed the baking paper and began to decorate them. I sprinkled some icing sugar over the top to replicate snow and added some sprinkles to look like baubles. The finished trees definitely weren't the neatest, but I like how they turned out and they taste amazing - which is the most important thing!



I hope that you liked seeing all of these crafts and I'd love to know if anyone recreates them. If you've posted any craft blog posts then I'd love to take a look, so make sure you share them with me in the comments. Thank you very much for reading this post, I hope you enjoyed it and I'll see you next week!

Love from Daisy x
The festive mood has really kicked in this weekend, and so I thought what better way to continue this feeling than to upload something Christmas-related on my blog? It's been a long time since I've done a tag post, but I saw this one making it's way around Twitter and just couldn't resist contributing. I'm definitely a huge Christmas fan and love everything about this time of year, so I thoroughly enjoyed answering these questions for you.


1. What are your favourite Christmas movies?
I'd have an incredibly hard time narrowing it down to just one, but some of my favourites include Home Alone, Home Alone 2 and Elf. I've watched these film repeatedly for years and they never fail to get me in the Christmas spirit. There's something about them that feels really nostalgic and special whilst still having funny, lighthearted moments, and so I'd definitely say they're Christmas classics.

2. Do you open your presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning?
My brother and I always open our presents on Christmas morning. I feel as though part of the fun is when you're lying in bed on Christmas Eve, eager for the next morning to arrive so you can see what presents everyone has received, so I couldn't imagine opening them all before Christmas Day.

3. Do you have a favourite Christmas memory?
All of my Christmasses have been equally special and lovely, so I doubt I could pick a favourite memory from them. I love every aspect of Christmas and have had so many amazing ones that it'd be virtually impossible for me to limit myself to just one memory. However, a Christmas that definitely stands out is when we first got our puppy, Georgie, as it truly was a surreal day that I'll always cherish.

4. Favourite festive food?
Christmas dinner is hands-down my answer for this question - it's not just my favourite festive food but probably one of my favourite meals in general. I also love the tins of sweets that are sold around Christmas like Quality Street and Heroes, as they're delicious and definitely get me feeling in the Christmas spirit. And you can't forget about Terry's Chocolate Orange, which I'm already looking forward to eating.

5. Favourite Christmas gift?
As I mentioned earlier, getting Georgie on Christmas was definitely my favourite 'gift', as he's incredibly special and means the world to my family. My brother and I were both 12 and had wanted a Shih-Tzu for quite a while, so to come downstairs on Christmas morning and meet Georgie was truly the best feeling ever. I can still remember how surreal everything felt to finally have a dog and it's a Christmas that I'll always cherish.


On the left is my first proper photo with Georgie - we'd had him for only a few days at this point. Almost four years later and needless to say I still love him so much.

6. Favourite Christmas scent?
Whether it's spiced berries, pine tree or anything in between, it's probable that I'll like it. I'm a huge fan of most Christmas scents and so I love burning candles around this time of year. There's something about candles in particular that makes me feel really cosy and warm, so when they're Christmas scented then it's definitely a win in my books.

7. Do you have any Christmas Eve traditions?
Something that my family and I often do on Christmas Eve is go to the cinema to watch a film together. I don't really know how this tradition started but it's something that I enjoy doing, especially as I don't go to the cinema very often. I also love getting in the Christmas spirit with some festive music or a Christmas film and having a bit of a pamper.

8. What tops your tree?
This year, we have a shabby-chic snowflake on top of the tree, which I really like and think is a nice change from a standard star. I'm actually in love with our new Christmas tree, as it compliments the rest of the house and is different to what we usually have - yet it's completely to my tastes. I love everything about it, from the colour scheme to the lovely ornaments, some of which I made myself. You can find out how I did that in next week's blog post, so make sure you come back for that.

9. As a kid what was the one gift you always asked for but never received?
I've never really been the type of person who asked for lots of things at Christmas, especially now that I'm older. I tried thinking of an answer for this question but my mind is actually drawing a blank, simply because I never usually ask for specific things and instead I'm surprised by my family.

10. What's the best part about Christmas for you?
I don't think I could choose just one thing, as Christmas is possibly my favourite time of year and I love everything about it. If I had to, I'd probably say that my favourite aspect is spending time with my family, where everyone is feeling happy and festive.

I hope you enjoyed hearing my answers to these questions and I invite all of you to do this tag post, so make sure you let me know if you have a go and answer them aswell. Thanks for reading and I'll see you next week with another festive post, so goodbye for now!

Love from Daisy x