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2020 has been such a weird year, but it hasn't all been bad for me. I am going to be reflecting on my year and hopefully reminding myself that there have been some positives of 2020. This year has taught me that even the smallest positives are worth mentioning and noticing. It's been the year I've gotten most into blogging and I hope to set some new goals and do some even bigger and better things with blogging in 2021.
My 2020 Roundup
January is normally a kind of nothingy month for me. It's just after Christmas and things go back to normal. One highlight of my January was that I went to see Jack Whitehall live. Remember when you could do that? He was really funny and it was a good start to the year. My dad also turned 50, he's not going to like me for mentioning that. We had a lovely meal for him at Piazza, the Italian in Amesbury.
I also went out clubbing in January in Bournemouth for my friend Jas's birthday. Again, who remembers clubbing?
February
In February, I did 2 days of Work Experience at a PR company in Cardiff and I had a little hotel stay in Cardiff for one. I really enjoyed my time there and hadn't been to Cardiff before. I'd love to go there again.
I also went with Joe for some lovely afternoon tea in London for Valentine's Day and we went to the Sea Life Centre in Waterloo.
My favourite part of February was going to see Mamma Mia the musical at the Mayflower in Southampton with my mum and grandma. It was so good!
March
March was the month that everything changed and everyone in the UK started to realise that Covid-19 wasn't going anywhere. I went to visit Joe at the beginning of March and we had the best time. We went to Bubba Gump in Leicester Square and we went to London Zoo too. That was the last time I saw Joe until July.
Just before the lockdown in the UK, I flew to Amsterdam with my friends and it was such a weird experience. We had a great time, however, the day after we got there everything started to shut down and it got a little bit scary. Once we came home from Amsterdam, everything in the UK shut down.
April
My 21st birthday was in April, in the week where we saw the first big spike of Coronavirus deaths. I had booked to go to Rome and had plans to go to Bristol too but these plans had to be cancelled. Regardless, I still had a really good 21st and was able to appreciate the small things. Read all about how I spent my 21st birthday in lockdown.
The rest of April just consisted of working from home and a lot of sangria over the bank holidays. I also started properly weekly blogging in April. Before that, I was never really committed but I haven't stopped weekly blogging since.
May
May must have been when mum, dad and I got really bored because I've gone through all my photos and we had a lot of themed nights in and we even gave Hollie a bath because she couldn't go to the groomers.
I was supposed to be at Bournemouth 7s festival in May so we had a festival garden party of our own at home. We also had beer pong nights, a VE Day party and made lots of Mars Bar rice crispy cakes: Recipe here.
June
In June, Joe and I had our 2nd anniversary, we just had to celebrate it over facetime. Mum and dad had their 30th wedding anniversary in June too, and their friends sent them a cheese hamper which was the best part!
June was when you were allowed to go in people's gardens so my family friends threw me a 21st party in their garden because I couldn't have one before, socially distant of course.
July
In July, I attended my first ever blogging event and went for a PR visit to Sculpture by the Lakes. I had the best time and would love to go to more blogging events. I also went strawberry picking with mum in the beginning of July, I love doing that in summer.
July was when the first national lockdown ended so I was finally allowed to see Joe again and some of my family after 4 months! Mum and dad bought a hot tub too so that was a highlight of the summer. I also went out for my first meal in months and it was amazing.
August
August seemed a lot more normal than any of the other months. I finished my year marketing internship in August and managed to go to Lincoln to visit one of my friends and had the best time.
Celebrating being allowed to go out again, we went to a cheese and wine bar and went out for cocktails. I went to see Joe in London for the last time before we moved to Bournemouth. We went to Battersea park because we could walk there from his flat and didn't want to come into contact with too many people, and it was so nice! Ended up getting so many steps in too.
Towards the end of August, I got to watch one of my best friends do a skydive for charity and it was safe to say that I was a lot more scared watching than she was doing it.
September
I moved back to Bournemouth on the 1st of September and it was really weird being in student housing again after a whole year of being at home and working. Due to not being able to see any of my friends for my birthday, I went out with a few friends for cocktails at Be at One in Bournemouth. They gave me a voucher to spend for my birthday so we used it on cocktails there.
Joe moved back a little later than me so I went to visit him in Hastings before he moved back and we had the most amazing seafood platter.
I was lucky to get a couple of nights out and bottomless brunches in with my friends before Covid-19 started picking up the pace again. One night out was an ABBA night and I LOVE ABBA!
October
This was probably the worst month for me because it started off with me actually catching Covid-19. I was quite ill with it and it really got me down but now I feel lucky to not have had it any worse than I did. I also lost my sense of taste and smell for 5 weeks which was quite tragic but I appreciate being able to taste now more than ever!
I had to isolate by myself in my room so my housemates wouldn't catch it and luckily they didn't. I won't lie, it was a really lonely time but I got through it which is the main thing.
After I isolated and got rid of the virus, I was able to start seeing people again. I went to Bingo Lingo in Southampton for one of my friends' birthdays and started working with my housemate's clothing company, Seven Nights Clothing. You are now reading the blog post of the Creative Copywriter for Seven Nights.
For Halloween, my housemate Maddie and I dressed up as Pitbull - once again supplying you with top quality content. We also went out for a bottomless brunch with our friends and that was the last time we saw them before the second national lockdown.
November
Before the second lockdown, Maddie and I went to Suffolk for a little break and we had such an amazing time. After that, November was quite nothingy because we were stuck in again. I did manage to get out and do some nice walks around Dorset. It's been nice to be able to get out by the sea.
In November, I also reached my highest amount of monthly views on my blog - 15,000 views! Check out this Google Analytics Cheatsheet mini E-book to help you keep on top of your analytics.
December
In December, I went home from uni for Christmas. My mum and dad moved to a new house in November so I have just been getting used to it at the moment. It's really nice and Christmassy at the moment and it's in the middle of the countryside, about a 15 minute drive from my old house.
There's a really cute farm shop nearby that I talked about in my Things to do in Wiltshire post and we have been getting brunch from there. I've also been watching lots of Christmas films, wrapping presents and preparing for Christmas.
How has your year been? I will be posting my new year goals next weekend!
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Wool of the King
So excited to be taking part in The Christmas Tag this year. Thank you so much to Sophie from Love and Literature for tagging me, be sure to check out her post too!
The Christmas Tag Rules
1. Put on your favourite Christmas playlist to listen to while answering!
2. Have a Christmas drink and/or snack while writing.
3. Thank the blogger who tagged you and link to their site.
4. Answer the 10 original questions.
5. Answer the questions set by whoever tagged you.
6. Ask 2 questions of your own
Tag 6 bloggers to take part.
The Original Questions
When do your decorations go up?
Usually the first weekend of December or the last weekend in November.
Who is the Scrooge of your family or friendship group?
Definitely my friend Robyn, she hates Christmas.
If money were no object, how and where would you spend Christmas?
Still with my family. Maybe somewhere Christmassy and cold with lots of Christmas markets! Austria looks amazing at this time of year. I prefer going to hot countries but if money were no object I'd visit them in summer.
What festive film do you HAVE to watch every festive season?
The Grinch! Read about all of my other favourite Christmas films.
Who do you find hardest to buy presents for?
I struggle a lot with any men that I have to buy for, what do you buy them?
Would you rather buy lots of little presents for a hamper, or by one big/main present?
Probably lots of little presents because more presents just looks more impressive in my opinion. Also usually means you can spend less but give someone the same satisfaction as getting a big present.
What did you leave out for Santa when you were a child?
We left out a carrot for Rudolph, and a mince pie for Santa with a glass of diet coke. My mum's favourite drink was diet coke so I thought it was every adult's favourite drink - including Santa. I should have known!
Where did you spend last Christmas?
We spent last Christmas at home, as we usually do. Just before Christmas, we went to the Dortmund Christmas markets in Germany last year and the year before.
Which Christmas song makes you cringe?
Honestly, The Fairytale of New York. I know it's a lot of people's favourite, I just really hate it I don't know why.
If you could be a character in a holiday movie, who would you be and why?
Definitely Kevin in Home Alone 2. Imagine being in New York for Christmas, that would be so cool.
Sophie's Questions
Does your family have a Christmas tradition of their own? If so what is it?
Not really, we just do the usual stuff like eat Christmas dinner, open presents, etc.
What is your favourite part of Christmas Day?
Easy. Christmas dinner!
My Questions
What is your favourite part of the Christmas dinner?
How do you spend Boxing Day?
I Nominate
How do you spend Christmas?
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Related Read: Christmas Activities to do at Home
Wool of the King
One of my favourite things to do to get in the holiday mood is to watch Christmas films! If you celebrate Christmas, I have some suggestions lined up for you that you need to watch! I hadn't seen a lot of Christmas films before because I have kind of had my favourites since I was a kid, then I would just watch those every year without seeing any new ones. This year, because we've been in lockdown, I have made it my mission to watch more Christmas films that I haven't seen. If you're like me and watch the same ones every year, then why not try watching some of my suggestions?
Photo by Nadi Lindsay from Pexels.
1. The Grinch
I think the Grinch is probably my favourite Christmas film. I really loved the new Dr Seuss animated Grinch that came out a few years ago. It's just really visually pleasing with the colours and all the Christmas decorations. The animated version is available to watch on Netflix.
2. Home Alone 1 & 2
I love Home Alone 1 & 2 so much! I know there are other but they really don't appeal to me as much without the original cast. Even if you don't like Christmas these are still enjoyable because it just shows the struggles of little Kevin when he gets left behind by his family at Christmas in a comedic way. Both films are on Disney+.
3. Santa Claus 1, 2 & 3
All 3 of The Santa Claus films are classics. I really like watching any of these in the lead up to Christmas just because they are all about Santa Claus and getting the toys to children - it's just cute all round. These are also on Disney+.
4. Miracle on 34th Street
Can you believe I only watched this film recently? This is my mum's favourite and she always tells me to watch it but I haven't until a few weeks ago. I really enjoyed it and it's definitely in my top favourites now.
5. Love Actually
I am just going to make the assumption that 99% of you have already seen Love Actually if you're from the UK? However, you never know. If you haven't, you must! It basically has every British famous person ever in it and it's just a film all British people seem to watch at Christmas time.
6. Christmas with the Kranks
Again, this film was new to me this year. It's not the most amazing Christmas film I've seen but I did enjoy watching it.
7. A Christmas Carol
There are so many versions of this film and all of the ones I've seen seem to be pretty good. The Muppet's Christmas Carol and Mickey's Christmas Carol on Disney+ are cute to watch too!
8. Elf
I've seen so many people on social media watching Elf this year, I have only watched it a few times but it's such a classic for so many people. I'm not usually a fan of Will Ferrell films but I don't mind this one because it's Christmas.
9. The Holiday
The Holiday is another one I had only watched recently. It's definitely a Sunday afternoon Christmas chick flick.
10. Nativity
I think I had only seen bits of Nativity when it had been on TV but this year I watched it all the way through and I really enjoyed it. I need to watch 2 and 3 now to see if they're any good.
What are your favourite Christmas films? Are there any not on here that I need to watch?
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Looking for more Christmas content? Check out my Christmas activity ideas post, featuring some of your favourite bloggers.
Wool of the King
This year has been quite a depressing one for so many people. If you celebrate Christmas, it could be fun to do some festive activities at home to get you into the celebrating mood. I have compiled a list from several bloggers and asked them their favourite Christmas activity to do at home. After reading this post, make sure you check out all of their blogs too!
Photo by Oleg Zaicev from Pexels.
3. Create a Christmas wreath using an old hoola hoop, fake berries, leaves, etc and some battery-operated twinkling lights.
My idea for a Christmas activity at home is making up your own hamper to give away as gifts. This can either be from shop-bought items or having a go at making some bits yourself. I love adding in some homemade cinnamon sugar almonds, jams/chutneys or biscuits. Some can be made further in advance, like the jams and others closer to the gift dropping time so that they stay fresh, like the almonds or baked goodies. I guess this is lots of activities broken down into one, so making the goodies and then packaging them up all pretty. The best bit is, if you make extra you can keep some of the goodies for yourself too!
My Christmas activity idea is creating mason jar snow globes. They are easy to make and very affordable! All you need is a mason jar, a little tree ornament, glitter, some warm water, clear glue and a glue gun (not essential). You first glue your ornament of choice to the lid of the mason jar. Secondly put a spoonful of clear glue into the jar with warm water and mix. Then add the glitter, you can play around with how much! Then finally screw the lid back onto the jar. Make sure it is super tight! There you have your own mason jar snow globes, perfect to keep children entertained but just as fun for the adults. Get creative, I can not wait to see what you come up with!
A great activity to do at home with kids is to make DIY Christmas crafts. This past weekend my daughter made Christmas cards by colouring and drawing on a blank piece of paper and adding stickers. You can then mail the cards to extended family members that you will not be able to see this year. You can also make DIY Christmas decorations with kids such as making cotton ball snowmen on construction paper, decorating paper plate Christmas trees, creating tissue paper wreaths, and painting salt dough ornaments. The ideas are endless and you can use items you have around your home, and most importantly, it is a fun activity for kids!
Christmas Activity Ideas to do at Home
1. Make a Gingerbread House - A Girl with a View.
This is such a classic Christmas activity and there’s a reason for that - it’s a good ‘un! I never used to be into making gingerbread houses until recent years but now it really helps me to start feeling festive and ready for Christmas. I am by no means a baker so I take the cop-out route and buy a gingerbread kit and focus on the decoration but, if you want to go hardcore then you can even make the gingerbread yourself and feel like you’re on bake off at the same time! I am by no means a baker or decorator so I can’t say that my gingerbread houses ever look that amazing but it’s the thought that counts. This is one of my favourite activities to do to make me feel ready for Christmas, it’s such a fun way to spend a cosy afternoon especially if you have some Christmas music or film in the background!
2. Socially Distanced Exchange Gifts and Virtual Get Together with Friends - Pieces of Liz.
During Christmas season, my friends and I usually plan a get together consisting of dinner and exchange gifts. But with COVID-19 still around, we're not doing that yearly tradition. This year's going to be a little bit different. Yes, we're still going to have exchange gifts but instead of giving it in person, we're going to have it delivered to their homes instead. As for our get together, we're taking it virtually. Zoom dinner get together so even if we're far away from one another, we still get to celebrate.
The next few ideas are from Nyxie's Nook.
4. Using old toilet roll tubes and fabric you can create a nativity scene. Your can also use the same concept to create Santa, angels, reindeer etc. Great to keeps the kids entertained!
5. Starting early you can work on a Christmas hamper for friends and family. Instead of big expensive gifts, create a gift basket full of useful things such as toiletries, snacks, photo frames with photos, tea bags etc. Anything you think that person/family would appreciate. I always include soaps, sweets and chocolate and even socks.
6. Using old gifts bags, create gorgeous home made pictures for your friends and family. I recently created a beautiful picture for my sister using a gift bag from our wedding.
7. Festive Baking to Spread the Love - Alex Faith Writes.
One of my favourite things to do at home during the Christmas period is bake! With my Christmas jumper on and the festive music turned up loud, I love to make all kinds of Christmassy goodies to really get into the festive spirit, especially this year as going outside isn’t always an option! And, as seeing loved ones is getting a little trickier, baking them some festive treats and dropping them round to their homes, socially distanced of course, is a great way to spread some Christmas cheer and show them you care. Christmas cookies, decorated as Christmas trees, reindeer and snowmen, or even chocolate orange brownies, are my personal faves. There’s so many great recipes online to keep you busy during the Christmas period at home, and to spread the love amongst your friends and family.
8. Making DIY hampers to give away as gifts - Aimsy's Antics
9. Creating mason jar snow globes - Rach Talks Business
10. Creating Christmas crafts - Tales of Belle
I'd love to know your favourite Christmas activities! Be sure to check out all of these wonderful bloggers who took the time to share their ideas.
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Related Read: Small Business Christmas Gift Guide
Wool of the King
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