On Friday, we put up our Christmas tree! We are all very excited for Christmas this year and putting up the Christmas tree as a family always makes us feel festive. We decorated the tree in red, rose gold and gold this year. I snapped a few pics over the weekend. I need to snap a few photos of t he boys standing by the Christmas tree but with them being teenagers, it has to be on there terms... Of course, haha. So far the cats have not tried to climb the tree although they're fascinated with the baubles.





I feel like I need add some more baubles and what not to our tree, which I may do today!
Have you put your Christmas tree up yet?

Sarah xXx

It's so hard to get a photo of all three kids looking at the camera, at the same time AND smiling! You would think with them being older (aged 12, 10 and 8) this would be easy but it isn't. I can't actually believe that the boys agreed to wear the same T.shirt, either. Mind you, Harry had no choice as it's the only festive top I could find in his size. Here's my attempt at some photos.
(The light was poor at the time I took these so I'll try again when the lighting is better!)

I don't know how Charlie managed to get his T.shirt wet on the shoulder?! Anyway, here are the pics! 






Sarah xXx

When we moved house back in April, a lot of my Christmas baubles got broke. It was my own fault for not wrapping them up properly. I decided to go with a copper/rose gold, silver and gold theme this year, for our Christmas tree. I was in desperate need for new baubles. Here are the ones I'e bought recently.


First up this pack of twenty from NEXT. They are black glitter, copper/rose gold, silver and gold. They are just so pretty! I love the copper ones that are textured. These were £6. There was also a 81pc set of baubles in similar colours from NEXT priced £10. The baubles are slightly smaller and I also got those too but forgot to take a photo!

I also picked up these two sets in home bargain which were £2.99 each. Bear in mind our Christmas tree is 7ft 6inches and therefore, takes A LOT of baubles and decorations. The mini baubles are SO cute! I think the mini dark silver glittery ones are possibly my favourite ones ever!


 Oh and these lovely rose gold large baubles, I think they were £1.99! They have gold sparkly, glitter hearts on them, I think they're so pretty. And they break the silver and gold up on the Christmas tree. Perfect for my colour theme. I got them in Home Bargains.


I also bough some single baubles. Plus, I already had some that didn't get broken! So I didn't buy too many single baubles.
The Christmas tree is from the range and I think was £1, I bought two of those and the other baubles are from a local garden centre and cost £1.49 each.


We've now put the Christmas tree up and I just need to get some ribbon and tinsel to make it look less bear. I plan on getting some of that this week :)


I feel like photos do it no justice and it will of course look A LOT better when the ribbon and tinsel is on but I thought I would share a photo of my lovely tree.


When do you usually put your Christmas tree up? What are your favourite things to decorate the tree with?

Sarah xXx

I think I'm just about ready for Christmas. I only need to buy the fresh fruit and veggies now, which is ok, I plan on tackling the supermarket early tomorrow morning. Hopefully before it gets too busy!

The presents are all wrapped, the Christmas cards are all sent, the Christmas meal plan is done and I finally have a star big enough for the top of the Christmas tree. I'm feeling quite organised now and hopefully my festive mood will stay.


It's been quite difficult to get into the Christmas spirit this year because I have had a lot to do and a lot going on! My dad had a tripple heart bypass on Friday, which wasn't really expected. You see, a couple of weeks ago, he had a major heart attack and didn't even think it WAS a heart attack. Just as well my step mum called the paramedics. The bypass was very successful and he is recovering really well. Fingers crossed he'll be home in time for Christmas.

So that all being said, you can imagine how crazy things have been.

I've been catching up on writing reviews and (slowly) reading blogs, responding to emails, messages and comments!

It's almost Christmas  how exciting!

I am very much looking forward to (a relaxing) Christmas this year. And the kids are super excited, as you can probably imagine, haha. I am also looking forward to Christmas eve, lots of family time, Christmas arts and crafts and of course Christmas movies! The kids have already chose which movies they'd like to watch, including Elf (my favourite!), the Grinch and Home alone. Christmas to us, would not be Christmas without those movies. What are your favourite festive films?

The kids have some really lovely presents and I'm indeed looking forward to spending the day with my little's and loved ones. It will be a lovely break.

Sarah xXx

Today we made some home made Christmas decorations. Making Christmas decorations is one of our Christmas traditions. We do it every year. Last year we made salt dough ornaments. I LOVE to see home made Christmas ornaments and decorations on my tree. Especially ones my little ones have made. It just wouldn't be the same without them!  
Not that the boys were really into it this year :/ Still, at least Ellie was eager, hehe. 

The other week I picked up some clear plastic heart 'baubles' from The Range. £1.99 for 6. Perfect! We already had lots of glitter and sequins and a few other bits and bobs left from past arts and crafts. They're all quite cheap to pick up though, I usually look in the 99p shop, poundland etc.


We opened up our hearts, spread some PVA glue on and sprinkled glitter and sequins inside:

Ellie added lots of snow flake sequins and some stars to hers! And of course some pretty purple glitter, hehe.

We also cut out some Christmas tree's and stars. We used scrap book card which I picked up cheap from somewhere... I can't remember where, we have had it for ages. On one side it already had glitter on and the other side was plain, we decorated the plain side to make a double sided decoration!


We used spongey balls to decorate the Christmas tree's, "they look like baubles" said Ellie. We also added bits of coloured foil for tinsel and of course glitter and sequins to make the tree's sparkles.

Ellie's decorations.

Ellie is really proud to see her Christmas baubles on the tree, yay! And Charlie already made a Christmas Angel at school, for the top of our tree. Bless. And I of course, am really proud to show them off on the Christmas tree, aww.

The Angel Charlie made.

 Have you done any Christmas arts and crafts recently? I'd love to see! :)

Tomorrow we might make some snowflakes, hopefully the boys will be feeling creative and join in. 

Sarah xXx

This weeks #TheGallery theme is Christmas Tree. Yay! Pictures don';t really do my Christmas tree any justice. But it is very pretty and looks amazing with the LED Christmas Lights. I love my owl decorations, too! So cute and sparkly, hehe.

I am really starting to look forward to Christmas now, things are slowly coming together. I finally have my Christmas tree up. Everywhere was out of stock on the ones I liked but I did find one that's ok! Not as bushy as I expected but it'll do us perfectly. And it looks very pretty with the Christmas lights on. Thankfully my kitties have left the tree alone so far *touch wood*. Last year was.... interesting lol. The cat (I only had one cat then) thought the baubles were for her and that the tree would make an excellent climbing frame lol. I've also put some Christmas window stickers on our front door and front windows :-) Yay!

I have wrapped up some presents and wrote out a few cards. I will finish the cards sometime this week, when I get time and remember to hand them out this year, lol.
 Also this week, I'll be doing some Christmas arts & crafts with the little's. We already made our Christmas cards. I really want to make our own bauble (this has become a tradition).. and we have a couple of things to review, which will be fun!
I've nowhere near finished Christmas shopping yet. Hopefully after next weekend, we'll be done and I can relax a little before Christmas. I still need to find something for Ellie to wear on Christmas day! Am sure she's gone thru yet another growth spurt, lol. She has outgrown SO many clothes!! Is it just my kids that seem to grow like weeds? Two blinks and they've grown two inches or five lol.

The little ones are VERY excited for Christmas. They have a busy couple of weeks at school. With Christmas dinners, Christmas plays, carol singing and Christmasy school trips! How exciting, hehe.I am really looking forward to there school Christmas plays, always plenty of proud mummy moments :o)

We went to Ellie Christmas fair at her school yesterday, that was great fun! We won a couple of prizes on the raffle/tombola. And some prizes in the lucky dip, hehe. Such fun! Ellie also got to see Santa, she wasn't too keen on the idea but she was easily persuaded with a present, lol. 

Are you all set for Christmas?

Sarah xXx

-This was a scheduled post-

I was asked if I'd like to review some LED Christmas lights from LedHut and I of course jumped at the chance! I seriously love Christmas lights. There's nothing better to get me in the mood for Christmas, than Christmas lights. Awesome!!

"LedHut Ltd started trading in March 2011 and has been quick to establish itself as one of the leading providers of LEDs into the United Kingdom. Offering competitively priced products, strong product guarantees, the right product certifications and with a great UK delivery service, LedHut is the preferred supplier of LED products for many customers."


I received the 5m indoor/outdoor LED Christmas string lights to review. These lights come in multi coloured, white and warm white. I choose the multi coloured ones, which include the colors red, green, blue and yellow. They are 50 meters long and contain 50 lights, that's one light every 10cm and are priced at £10.00. Just perfect for my (almost) 6ft Christmas tree! The cable is weather proof which means they can also be used outdoors! LED light bulbs also last longer than normal bulbs.

The unit is fitted with a function switch which has eight different settings:
"1-Fast Fade
2-Random Fade
3-Random Flash
4-Off
5-Fast Flash
6-Slow Fade
7-Pulsing
8-On Static."

You can see on the video below from LED hut youtube channel, the different settings.



All the settings are brilliant! I especially love the random flash mode. The first thing everyoen notices about out Christmas tree, is the lights! Everyone comments on how pretty and bright they. I really do love these lights. They are colourful, pretty, bright and very festive, they certainly liven up my Christmas tree! They would also look great around a window, too! Or even outside. What I also like about these Christmas lights is the cable. It doesn't get tangled up. They are easy to fit on the Christmas tree and around windows. If you're looking for some new Christmas lights I highly recommend you check out http://www.ledhut.co.uk. You can also follow Twitter, facebook and G+.

Sarah xXx

Disclosure: I received these LED Christmas lights for the purpose of this review!

I can't believe it's already 11th November!! Time is going way too fast.
I really need to get my thinking cap on regarding Christmas. Especially now I've seen the coke-a-cola "The holidays are coming" advert, lol. LOVE that advert! I think my grandparents are possibly coming over to ours on Christmas day - weather permitting. They live a good 45 mins drive away and my granddad can't drive in the snow/ice. Not that far anyway! We would really love them to come for Christmas.I've got our Christmas day meal plan almost complete (Will share that closer the time!!).

I also need to figure out what to get the kids for Christmas. Ellie's main present is sorted, I think I know what to get the boys for there main present and I'd like to get them all some new PJ's and slippers but as for everything else.. I've got no idea! LEGO is a good idea for them all because they all play with that together really well and they all enjoy it, too! Ha, so do I :-P such a big kid. I really do need to have a good long think about it though.

I haven't even got a Christmas tree. My cat ruined our one last year. I have however, had a look about to price some up! I've seen a couple that I like but hoping they either go on sale or they bring the price down lol. One can wish. I've seen some lovely Christmas decorations for tree's, too. See, the cat also ruined those last year too! And now my cat (that was a kitten last year) has grown out of the kitten stage and isn't really interested in everything that lights up, moves or balls... I now have another kitten who I dare say will find Christmas very entertaining.. Oh the joys lol!


As far as presents go at this moment in time, I really haven't brought a lot :-/ I'm not organised AT ALL! Ugh. I say every year "I will start early next year and be done with Christmas shopping by November" But I never do, lol! Am I the only one who says this but it just never happens? I keep seeing people's posts on Facebook saying "I've finished my Christmas shopping" And I'm sitting over here like "Errrm, I have hardly even given it a thought let alone finished!!" lol. At least I've brought some Christmas cards and wrapping paper. And the odd food item.. so far. So that is at least something....

I really do love Christmas and I am excited about it, the lead up to Christmas though, is just very stressful! Although, it is all totally worth it because Christmas is only once a year! I love spending time with the family, all the lovely food, the Xmas tunes and the cozy Christmas films. Now just need to get organised so I can enjoy all of those things! :) I'm gong to get started on our winter bucket list, in the very near future too!

What are your plans for Christmas?

Sarah xXx