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Book Review: Blogs Change Lives Today is launch day for Blogs Change Lives - the eagerly awaited blogging guide from Aby Moore of…

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Christmas Drinks #Blogmas Day 14

I know I wrote about excess yesterday so it’s a little ironic that today I’m talking about Christmas drinks. However, bear with me because I’m not just talking about alcohol.

I’m pretty sure that everybody loves a good Christmas drink! It doesn’t have to be alcohol based, it could be one of the gorgeous drinks available at Costa or Starbucks, or something home made from an old family recipe.…

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My Least Favourite Things About Christmas #Blogmas Day 13

If you’ve been keeping up with my #Blogmasposts then you’ll have noticed that on the whole they are all relatively positive posts. I’ve been covering all the things we love about Christmas from traditions to decorating; food to family. Whilst I do love all these things, there are a few things that Christmas brings that I don’t enjoy quite as much. With that in mind, today I am sharing with your…

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5 Top Tips for Surviving the Holidays #Blogmas Day 12

Christmas can be a hugely busy time and it’s so easy to find yourself feeling overwhelmed and stressed. Add that to normal daily life and it can be a real struggle to get everything done. There are a few things that you can do to ease the pressure so today I’m sharing with you some top tips for surviving the holidays.

If I’m honest I’ve not been feeling in the Christmas spirit as much as usual…

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I’ve already shared with you my Christmas Traditions so today I’m going to delve a little deeper into one of them – our Christmas Elves.

I first started this when my son was born back in 2012. At the time my eldest daughter was 14 so not really a believer. My son was 11 months and not really old enough to understand. Despite this I got caught up in the whole Elf on the Shelf concept and order myself two cute little elves.

We named them Felicity Fairylight and Montague McJingle (my OH’s choice) and made them passports and sleigh licences.

Looking back, I think I was probably a little crazy and that the entire tradition was more for my benefit than anyone else’s.  Nevertheless, I can honestly say that everyone entered into the fun, even my anti Christmas hubby.

Over the advent period they elves got up to all kinds of mischief from wrapping up my daughter’s toothbrush and her school dinner. This is something her friends still talk about now! They also hung her underwear on the Christmas tree; she wasn’t impressed as this was the same day she brought her boyfriend home! They even ate one of her advent calendar chocolates and she was less than happy about that one.

They also found their way to Daddy’s work and spent the day ‘helping’ him with his job.

This will be our 5th year of having elves visit. It does get harder to come up with new ideas that don’t cost the earth I wouldn’t change it for anything. The kids still talk about the time they wrapped the TV in wrapping paper. Or when they ziplined across the living room. This means that my hard work has paid off; we are making the memories I wanted and keeping the magic of Christmas alive.

It also means that I can teach my children that Christmas isn’t all about Santa and what presents you get under the tree. In the past we have been challenged by our elves to be kind to others; this is something I will be working on more in years to come.

Do you have Christmas Elves who visit? I’d love to know what kind of mischief they get up to.

Christmas Elves #Blogmas Day 11 I’ve already shared with you my Christmas Traditions so today I’m going to delve a little deeper into one of them – our Christmas Elves.

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Festive Blog Tag #Blogmas Day 10

Do you love Christmas? I do so when I came across this festive blog tag over at Not a Perfect Parent I just had to add it to my #Blogmas posts.

What’s your favourite Christmas movie?

I love Christmas movies and even wrote an entire post on some of my favourites. I spent most of July watching them on the Christmas in July channel. If I had to pick just one though, it would have to be Elf!

Have you…

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Christmas Meal Prep #Blogmas Day 9

For the past few years I have hosted Christmas Dinner here at Chez Binnersley. In this time have just about perfected our Christmas meal prep so today I’m sharing some of my top tips.

The key thing is to put in a little hard work in the run up to the big day by preparing some of items in advance.

Here are my top tips to destress your Christmas meal so you can enjoy time with your family. Keep it…

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5 Stocking Fillers for Kids #Blogmas Day 8

Yesterday we were discussing our Christmas Traditions, today we are looking at stocking fillers. One of ours is hanging  the empty stockings left by the elves on Christmas Eve and eagerly waiting to see what Santa leaves. These are the first presents we open when the kids wake up and it allows me and my OH time to fully come around before making our way downstairs for the main event.

We never…

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Christmas Traditions #Blogmas Day 7

We love our Christmas Traditions and seem to add new ones each year. I’m always on the look out for new ideas to add to the magic of Christmas, especially while the kids are young enough to believe.

I’ve already posted my bucket list which includes several other of our traditions but here are a couple more that aren’t on there.

Advent Books

For the past 5 years I have been doing advent books.…

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Christmas Playlist #Blogmas Day 5

No #Blogmas  would be complete without a Christmas playlist. So today I’m sharing with you some of my favourite songs, you know the ones that never fail to get me in the festive spirit.

These are the songs that I will happily listen to over and over again during December. They all hold a special place in my heart and have their own little memories attached from Christmases gone by.

There is a…

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Favourite Christmas Movies #Blogmas Day 3

Welcome to Day 3 of #Blogmas and today I’m sharing some of my favourite Christmas movies.

As the nights get colder and darker, I love nothing more than chilling out with my family and watching a movie. Once December arrives we try to watch one every weekend.

  So without further ado, here are 10 of my favourite Christmas movies for all the family

Elf

I love this film and it’s one that gets…

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So yesterday saw the arrival of Felicity and Monty our two North Pole elves. Unlike some elves ours are quite well behaved, albeit a little mischievous. They also bring with them the kids advent calendars and advent books (don't tell anyone but there are still a couple missing from the pile). #elf #elfontheshelf #ChristmasElves #kindnesselves #mischievouselves #felicityandmonty #felicityandmonty2107 #elfarrival #advent

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Christmas Bucket List #Blogmas Day 2

I probably don’t need to remind you that I love a good bucket list. And Christmas is so special it deserves one all of its own as there are so many things to do during the festive season. Christmas movies, hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows, letters to Santa.

  So here is what’s on our bucket list for December to help make the holidays extra fantastic.

Visit Santa

The kids love their…

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Letter from Santa #Blogmas Day 1

hristmas will soon be here and I’m finally getting into the Christmas spirit. This year has found me a little lacking in Christmas spirit but I’m slowly finding it and am beginning to look forward to the festivities throughout the month.

As you will have gathered by the title of this post, I am attempting Blogmas this year! After my failed attempt at Blogtober you may think I’m crazy; but after…

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Blog Tour: And a Sixpence for Luck by Lilac Mills

I am delighted to be one of today’s stops on the blog tour for And a Sixpence for Luck by Lilac Mills

There are still a few remaining stops on the tour, here’s where it’s heading next.

  Synopsis

Daisy Jones has hit rock bottom. Or so she believes.

A cheating boyfriend, trouble at work, having to move back in with her mother, and being forced to compare her brother’s loved-up, newly-wed status…

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Let Sleeping Beauty Lie

OK so I’m not usually one to air my views about the latest viral news story. Partly because I don’t come across many articles that make me feel like I need to share my opinions publicly across the internet; partly because I sometimes feel that the people involved don’t deserve their 15 minutes of fame. However, as a parent of two little bookworms, a lover of books and an avid reader; this article

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Cover Reveal: Just One Time by K S Hunter

I’m thrilled to be part of the cover reveal for the debut novel by K S Hunter, Just One Time

I’m absolutely thrilled to be part of the cover reveal for the debut novel by K S Hunter, Just One Time, but before I share it with you here’s a little more about the book itself which will be published on 7th December.

Synopsis

Desire can have dire consequences

Two years ago, David Madden made a mistake that almost cost him his marriage. His wife, Alison, gave him another chance, but she has not…