Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Muzletov!

Cor. The 23rd December seems AGES ago. I had SUCH a good Christmas holiday - spanning from December 24th-January 5th - and it has been really hard coming back to work and getting into the swing of things again. Not to mention the fact that it is zero degrees and a hazard to be out of bed.

So. Christmas Eve was brilliant. Me and Sophie and Matt went to Cafe Rouge for dinner. Sophie was sad because she didn't get mussels but me and Matt had delicious steaks each. Matt ate his in about 3 minutes. Then Sophie said something REALLY rude, which I can't remember, and then Matt said something EVEN RUDER. I can't remember what he said either but it was shocking. I was all, it is the eve of the Baby Jesus. Jeeeeeeez. When we got home me and Sophie convinced Mat that we all needed to open our 'Secret Santa' presents. I put that in quote marks because they weren't secret or really from Santa. I got a beautiful scarf and some funky shoes and a necklace and earring bumblebee set. I like bumblebees. They seem all big and fluffy. But they sting me ALL THE TIME. And mum is all, quit stroking the bumblebees! And I'm all owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. Anyway. We went to bed pretty late. Going to bed late has been a definitive characteristic of this holiday. We were going to bed around 3am and getting up at midday. Coming back to work and alarms going off at 6.30 has been a right shock to the system. Very distressing.
On Christmas morning I was hoping to have a lovely lie in. This plan was immediately scuppered by scarily enthusiastic adults texting me at 7.30, 8.13 and 8.38. DUDES. And then Matt "couldn't sleep" and apparently had been awake since 5am so we were up pretty flippin early I can tell you.

Sophie and Matt opened their presents and then we headed to our respective families houses. Christmas at our house is always great. We'd watched the Christmas special of Gavin and Stacey when we got back from Cafe Rouge and there is a scene in it where the dad is worried about his Norfolk gold headed red breasted diamond egged turkey. Or whatever. WE GET THIS TURKEY TOO!! The dad is basting/soaking his turkey in a bucket. Those birds are flippin ginormous sometimes and last year our bucket was barely big enough. This year ours was soaking in some kind of laundry basket thing. Brilliant. Anyway, we could totally relate to the dad muttering about his Jamie Oliver recipe and Nigella and whatever. Funny.

Then our uncle Paul turned up with the usual crate of champagne! Much appreciated. I got a beautiful pair of gold hoop earrings that I have wanted for ages and some makeup. Brilliant! I think my brother Jamie sorted mine and he did a very good job. Later on, we watched Mama Mia. Mama Mia is proper cheese and my brothers made some very funny comments through out. Like, oooo girls gossiping and reading diaries! I can NEVER get enough of that... etc. Whatevs. It was a good Christmas day movie.

Me and Sophie sat navved Matts address around 12-1am and headed off to pick him up. The sat nav doesn't like Matt's address and corrects it to where it thinks we should be going. It's always the right place but . . . whatever to not recognising number 5 or whatever.

Boxing day was a total chill fest round ours but we decided to head to Brent Cross on the 27th to pick up some New Years Eve outfits. Lulu stayed round as I wanted to leave early, around 9, because otherwise I assumed it would be MAYHEM. I was not wrong.

I can't remember what we did on the 29th. Presumably chilled out. Ate. Napped. I napped SO MUCH this holiday that it was less napping and more full on heavy sleeping. But in the evening me and Sophie went to ma and pa's for my birthday dinner. Matt was unwell so we left him at home so's as not to ruin the party atmosphere. Mum cooked a delicious dinner of pasta and garlic bread and even a salad which, after all the crap I had eaten, tasted bloody delicious. Then we had a chocolate cake that I think Matt would have been real sad to miss. For my birthday I got a MASSIVE jewellery box from my sister and Matt. It is absolutely brilliant and I love it. I love that I can see all my jewellery and I love all the compartments so it's like a treasure trove of things. Me and Sophie bought some silver dip and tidied our boxes (we both have the same one. I have coveted hers for ages). Shamefully it was still a tight squeeze getting it all in. I also got some purfume, my mum made me an amazing necklace and earring set, lulu bought me a little Aladdins lamp charm, Jamie bought me a book on manners (rude! although I heart etiquette books) and Toby bought me a bunch of flowers. It was a great evening.

The 30th, my actual birthday, Ruth came over and cooked me lunch and bought some Bucks Fizz. She also bought me a really really cool necklace made from an old farthing. I love it. It was a wicked day.

News Years Eve we spend at my families house. I love the eclectic gathering of friends and family and me, Sophie, mum and Lulu had all managed to buy beautiful dresses. Me and Sophie were given the task of crudites and rice crispy cakes. After making the 112 cake I would have been happy not to have seen them again. But they were bloody delicious. Sophie's friend Natalie was very very funny. Her boyfriend bought her a cook book for Christmas and she had turned down the corners of the pages of the recipes that she liked the sound of and handed it back to him to cook them!!! What a GREAT idea! Also, apparently they made a Venison Surprise Pie. The surprise part was no venison. HAHA.

On New Years day we were woken up by our family, up bright and early at the crack of dawn and asking if we wanted to go for a walk. Me and Sophie managed to heave ourselves out of bed but it was an effort and pretty much the only exercise we did all Christmas.

I had a Cracking holiday and a much needed break from working and getting up early and whatnot. This is my first week back and it is SO HARD. The lack of sleep is causing a twitch above my right eye and it is bloody cold. Oh well. Nearly the weekend.