Christmas Tag! | 2013

Hello!
 So.. very sorry we haven't posted for a while - college gets busy! Also I (Alanah) have been ill.. and now I have a cold so that's fab haha, hopefully I will get it over and done with soon though.  

Anyway as this is our first post of December we would like to say Happy December! We hope you are all excited for christmas (if you celebrate it) and we have decided to do this tag to get in the festive mood (even though I think we already are).

Hope you enjoy!

What time of year do you start your Christmas shopping?

Alanah | Usually late November/early December but it does vary, I love christmas shopping - we are going on Thursday! I have ordered a few things online this year though.

Sarah | I normally plan what I'm getting really early like mid November, and the go shopping early December. I don't like to leave Christmas shopping to the last minute otherwise I find I don't enjoy doing it.

Do you have any festive recipes for food or drink you limit solely to the Christmas season to share?

Alanah | Not me personally but my Grandma makes an amazing trifle around christmas time and I don't really like trifles but I love her one!

Sarah | Not really, I don't really drink hot drinks until Winter but I only really like hot drinks, apart from hot chocolate which I could literally live off.

What happens on Christmas day in your home? (Routine)

Alanah | Well I always celebrate it at home with my family.  My brother and sister are 15 and 11 so we still do christmas traditional things (I hope we always do..) We wake up pretty early but usually aren't allowed downstairs till about 8/8.30, then we open our stockings and Santa presents.  We then usually have breakfast like croissants or pancakes and then open presents from Mum + Dad.  Then our Nan and Grandma come over and we exchange all of our presents from under the tree and stuff (I like to put them in piles and we all take it in turns - takes a while but I love it.).  We eat our christmas dinner about 2/3pm and then play games and watch christmassy films the rest of the day! I LOVE IT (I love talking about christmas)
Sarah | Well I have a younger brother and sister (aged 5 and 4) so they wake up super early, but to be honest I'm normally awake before them! we wake up super early around (6:30-7) so we don't miss out on the day and we all get our dressing gowns and slippers on and open our stockings, then we like to stop and have breakfast, we normally have a full english breakfast at Christmas, but without mushrooms because they're horrible! Then when we've all finished we go and open our Santa sacks and I may be 16 but Santa will leave me presents my whole life! then later in the day family come over and we do family presents, all day Chistmas songs will be playing and I know every word! Then dinner's at around 3-3:30 and for the rest of the day we'll watch Christmas films or listen to Christmas songs (its the best day ever!)

Do you have any Christmas traditions?

Alanah | A couple - on christmas eve we always do a treasure hunt for one present each that our mum does for us which is fun.  Also I normally film a lot on christmas day and try and put them all together afterwards but I never seem to finish it - I'm determined this year!

Sarah | All day we listen to Christmas songs, and I do the same as Alanah by videoing and taking photo's of the whole Christmas day! 

 Do you have a favourite festive coffee?

Alanah | This year I have been loving the Salted Caramel Mocha from Starbucks (although I can't find it recently...) and the chocolate orange mocha from Costa.  

Sarah | I am quite fussy with hot drinks but I really want to try Cost'a chocolate orange mocha because it sounds amazing! Other than that it would just be a normal hot chocolate, but obviously with whipped cream and marshmallows! 

Do you have a favourite Christmas song?

Alanah | O my, all of them! Especially:

All I want for Christmas is you - Mariah Carey

Christmas - Michael Bublé (I want to learn all the words though!)

Mistletoe - Justin Bieber (Its the only song of his I like!)

Merry Christmas Everyone - Shakin' Stevens
Sarah | Quite a few...
Christmas - Michael Bublé (all time favourite!)
Train - Shake up Christmas
All I want for Christmas is you - Mariah Carey
Wizzard - I wish it could be Christmas everyday (its a classic!)
Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, how lovely are your branches - Sarah & Alanah (song we made up)

What do you do on Christmas Eve?

Alanah | Always with my family, sometimes we go to the cinema or the Theatre earlier on in the day, we get a nice dinner for that night (and we shop in M&S in stead of Tesco.. ;)).  Then we do our treasure hunt, put the stuff out for Santa (yes we still do that!), watch some Christmas specials and go to sleep although I usually can't get to sleep because I'm a big kid..

Sarah | Its normally a family day, we are mainly getting ready for the day ahead, last minute Christmas wrapping, some family come over who we aren't super close with and we exchange presents. But in the evening we watch Christmas films and set out food and drinks for Santa and his reindeer. I then normally don't sleep all night because of my excitement! However jealous of Alanah who gets a treasure hunt, I might have to bring that idea up to my mum!

What's your Christmas wrapping strategy? Do you have a strategy?

Alanah | Naah I just wrap it round fold the edges into triangles if I can and then pull them over and tape it.. never goes right though.  Although I do put ribbons and bows on it to make them pretty!

Sarah | I take Christmas wrapping very seriously, the wrapping paper has to be super festive! and I normally take my time wrapping each present making sure their perfect, I then like to decorate it with ribbons, bows and tags

What's your dream gift this year?

Alanah | My main gift is probably the pair of Black Timberlands that I have asked for wooo!

Sarah | A rose gold Michael Kors watch I've been wanting one for a while and think they look lovely

Describe your Christmas tree. How tall? Real or artificial? How is it decorated?

Alanah | Mine is fake (last year we got a real one and it died and my cat ate the branches hahaha).  Its probably about 5 ft and its decorated quite traditionally and I love it!
(photo below)

Sarah | Our's is also fake, mainly because my younger brother and sister will make a mess with all the pine that falls off of a real one, and their a lot easier to put up, we aren't traditional with colors, we go for browns and golds to match our lounge, but I think it looks lovely! I do normally have a Christmas of my own up at my dads but I haven't been to his yet to put it up. Anyways this is our family Christmas tree at my mums;

Do you decorate just the tree or other areas of your house e.g. windows, bannisters?

Alanah | We decorate everywhere, everywhere you look there is something christmassy.  Here are some photos!

Sarah | Same as Alanah, we decorate everywhere, this year we'e gone all out with lights we even have then on our hallway ceiling, here's some photo's of them; 

What do you wear to Christmas parties and what do you wear on Christmas day?

Alanah | Welllll I don't tend to go to many christmas parties but I would just wear a party dress, probably a bodycon or a skater skirt and crop top.  They would probably be black, red or sparkly (gold, silver etc).  As for christmas day we change it up like Sarah, last year we all wore christmassy onesies (even my Grandma and Nannie!) but this year I want us all to dress up because I want to buy a dress to wear!

Sarah | I don't go to Christmas parties on Christmas day but if there's some before or after I'll normally wear a black or sparkly dress, (as I feel its very festive!) However Christmas days can be two complete different options, its either a complete pyjama day, but they must be festive! or a bodycon dress - think i'll be wearing a dress this year!

Obviously we tag all of you reading to do this, to get everyone into the Christmas spirit! However in particular we tag;

Rachel - all the little things

Chelsea - tiger love beauty

Charlotte - makeup by candelight

Jenny - Jenny you

Eleanor - peach petals

Hope you enjoyed this post, we will be posting frequently throughout the run up to Christmas, don't forget to leave a comment as we do reply to all.

Alanah & Sarah

xxx

Little comment from Sarah: everyone tell Alanah to get well soon! x (aw)

OOTD | Rag Week Day 2 | Occupation

Hello, so for our second day of rag week, the theme was occupation and as we are both feeling very festive for Christmas (its only 36 days to go!) we thought we'd both go as elves.  Before you ask... yes an elf is an occupation!

We did wear the same today

Sarah                                                                                                                             Alanah

Hats!

We both wore the same 'Santa's Helper' hat (obviously)! These were from The Party Shop which is located in our local debenhams but I'm sure they have independant shops too.  I think they were on sale/clearance for about £1.30 which we thought was a great deal!

Bottoms

So we are both wearing leggings however they are both different so

Sarah | I am just wearing some plain basic leggings from h&m, you can find them here

Alanah | My leggings are quite thick and they look a bit like jeans actually haha, but these are from Topshop for £25 and in my opinion - a great pair of leggings! You can find these here.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Tops

So our tops are from Primark! We tried to get bigger sizes so they were a bit baggy but that didn't really work out as you can see.. they're pretty fitted.  They were only £5 and there were a few other designs such as Santa and Reindeers. I am pretty sure that they will still be in store, probably until Christmas!

Shoes

So we wore the same shoes as yesterday and they are pretty similar but a tad different.

Sarah |  Double tongue white converse (view similar ones here)

Alanah | Original white converse still in-store (view them here)

Jackets 

We both wore leather jackets (because it was very cold today..) - but not the same ones

Sarah | My leather jacket used to be my mums, but she never wore it, so she let me have it, I think its from Dorothy Perkins.

Alanah | Mine is from a boutique near me, I honestly can't remember what it is called right now but it was about £25.

Thank you for reading, hope you liked it!
We will be doing a OOTD each day this week for RAG week, so make sure you check out yesterdays post and keep checking tomorrow for our 'outfit beginning with your first initial' outfits!

Alanah + Sarah

xxx