Ten happy things – December 18

At the end of each month, I look back and choose ten things that made me happy and that I’m thankful for. Here are my Ten Happy Things for December.

Blogosphere Festival

At the beginning of December I attended my first ever Blogosphere festival, which was at the Landmark hotel in Marylebone. I only went to the morning session but I really enjoyed it – especially as I got to meet Kerry from Kerry, Life and Loves and Sima from The Curious Pixie in real life and made two new friends – Lauretta from Home and Horizon and Jessica from Pretentious Fringe.

We also got given goodie bags when we left and mine had the most amazing Dior eye palette from World Duty Free!

Seeing family

We went up to Edinburgh towards the beginning of December to see my dad and were only there really for Saturday as we landed late on Friday night (flight was delayed). We had a lovely lunch with my cousin and aunt and also managed to have a drink with my cousin Liam and his fiancé, Sarah. Edinburgh is such a beautiful city and I can’t wait to go back already! This time we’ll go up for a bit longer though as it was a bit rushed.

Discovering a new cheese

I was invited along to a Christmas cheese and drinks pairing by Comté, which is a French cheese I’d not tasted before. Not only was the cheese delicious, but it was such a fun night!

I caught up with blogger friends, Connie and Binny, and got to make some lovely new friends too. When we left we were all given some Comté to take home!

Spending time with old friends

Some friends of ours were over from Australia for the month of December and it was so lovely to spend time with them. We last saw them five years ago when they left the U.K and their little girls were just toddlers – now they’re 8 and 9!

You know you’re good friends when you can meet after 5 years and it’s like you’ve never been apart.

Christmas Eve Lunch

It’s become a bit of a tradition that every Christmas Eve we go to L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon for lunch and this year was no exception. We always choose the counter seating so that we can see the chefs at work.

The food is just stunning but that’s no surprise given that chef Joel Robuchon holds 32 Michelin stars – more than any chef in the world! We’ve also been to his restaurants in Paris and Tokyo, which were equally amazing. Highlights of the meal were the amuse bouche with foie gras and his famous pomme puree.

Christmas!

I love Christmas. Not for the food or the presents but because I get to spend quality time with my husband. Apart from cooking on Christmas Day, it’s such a relaxing time just watching Christmas films, chilling out, eating too much and having afternoon naps. Bliss.

Cherries wrapped in bacon

For me, Christmas is all about cherries wrapped in bacon – oh YUM! Not fresh cherries, obviously, but glacé ones. The combination of sweet and salty is just addictive. I always make them at Christmas time as little snacks with a drink pre-dinner.

Looking ahead to 2019

Just before Christmas I purchased the ‘Goodbye 2018, Hello 2019’ journal from Project Love. I’m looking forward to filling it in and getting focused for the year ahead. I’m not usually one for setting goals but this year I want to change that.

Cat sitting

Our neighbour asked if we could look after his cat, Dandy, for a couple of days and of course we said yes. I’ve never had a cat before so this was a first! He was so lovely too and it was so nice to have him stay over (except when he kept waking us up at 6 am by meowing!). He definitely helped with my anxiety and it’s made me more determined to get a dog this year.

Chicago for New Year

We were incredibly lucky to end 2018 and start 2019 in the fabulous city of Chicago! We’d not been before although we’d been speaking about going for years. I’m so glad we did as it’s such a great city! Also, it wasn’t that cold or windy, which was definitely a bonus. We definitely want to go back but in Spring or Summer so we can experience it differently – we can go to the beach, for one!

So those are my ten happy things for December! What things in December were you grateful for?