And breathe…

So yesterday I finished work and have a blissful 16 days off.  I’ve mentioned having time off over Christmas on Twitter and I keep seeing people tweet that they’re fed up with people saying that they’re done for Christmas as they’re working Christmas Eve/Boxing Day/only having one day off.  So I just want to say right now, that I am not sorry, and that I DESERVE IT! I worked in retail all the way through Uni (at H&M) and then for a few years afterwards so trust me, I have worked my fair share of Christmas Eve’s and Boxing Day’s, along with having a boyfriend who has worked almost all of the Christmas Day’s we’ve been together due to working for an emergency services.  So I will be enjoying every second of my 16 days off and spending it drinking lots of Bucks Fizz, eating sweet treats and enjoying time with friends and family.

Yesterday was mufty/dress down day at work and it was such a novelty to be a bit more casual, as well as partaking in our annual McDonalds Christmas lunch.  Though I must admit I was slightly concerned when I ordered four people’s meals and the man behind the counter asked me if I wanted to eat in.

McDonalds lunch

It might be the last time we’re all together for Christmas at the office where we work as the site is closing next year, so we all took dress down day very seriously.  There was a bear costume, a reindeer onesie and this idiot even brought out the penguin kigu…

I was a super tired Rosie yesterday so I dipped out of going to our headquarters Christmas Party in order to tick a few errands off the to-do list and catch up on sleep.  I’ve been waking up at 6am every day for some reason so yesterday I took advantage of the extra time in the morning and fixed my Malteser’s fudge which hadn’t set when I made it the night before.  It turns out that the answer really, always, is ‘add more chocolate’.  I used this recipe and it always works – the first batch was my fault for getting cocky and throwing in too many ingredients!

I also managed to do two different food shops after work yesterday – my parents are coming around for a Christmas lunch tomorrow so we’ve got loads of party food (from M&S) and snacks (from Sainsbury’s).  We’re also going to be attempting a few recipes from my Good Housekeeping Christmas recipe magazine.

I must admit, I don’t think I’ll be able to top this afternoon’s kitchen creation however, I whipped up a batch of Peanut Butter fudge and it’s definitely the best fudge I’ve made.  I’ll be putting it in jam jars and kilner jars with Christmas ribbon and luggage tags and giving it to friends and family – that’s if there’s any left! Once it’s in the tin you sprinkle it with sea salt – so delicious!

Peanut Butter Fudge

Peanut Butter Fudge

Today I’ve also been doing the last of the Christmas wrapping (whilst watching Home Alone 2) – I love wrapping presents but I must admit I am looking forward to clearing away all of the wrapping paper, sellotape and ribbon and having our dining table back to normal!

There is a rather crazy amount of presents under the tree – I can’t wait to pack them all up and take them away with us to visit our families.  The one on the right in the cellophane is for me, from my friend Kate. I have a different present to open every hour on Christmas Day and they are all labelled with the hour to open them at! I met up with my friend Nicole for Christmas present exchange on Tuesday too, she got me some amazing presents including the most beautiful silver lighthouse necklace amongst other treats.

Christmas tree and presents
Christmas tree and presents

I have actually been rather spoilt with early Christmas presents and some beautiful cards too.  This amazing hamper turned up for me on Wednesday from Trek America, who I’ve been chatting to recently and will be working with next year.  All of the gifts were individually labelled – the Yankee Candle is a ‘Congratulations’ candle on our engagement and the bowtie is a present for Bodhi, it attaches to a US flag collar, it’s brilliant!

Hamper from Trek America
Christmas onesie

Bodhi loves his new collar!

I did the last trip to the Hermes dropoff and the postbox yesterday with the last few Christmas cards and parcels.  We bought our Christmas cards from M&S but we also got some printed of Bodhi in his Christmas pudding outfit via instajunction.  I was sent a £25 voucher a few weeks ago and got a set of cards and some magnets.

Instajunction magnets
Instajunction cards

The cards and magnets are lovely and I’m really thrilled with them.  It took me a few days to order however as the website kept crashing and giving error codes, hopefully they’ve ironed out the technical issues now. They took about nine days to come which isn’t too bad for custom printed products.  I’ve put a few of the magnets in with Christmas presents as I think they’re a nice little touch and something people don’t often order themselves.  Instajunction do a few fun products I haven’t seen on other instagram printing services like cufflinks and charm bracelets, obviously it’s too late for Christmas but they’re worth a look for birthdays and so on.

Hope you’re all feeling ready for Christmas now – I have a few other things to share with you before I go away on Monday but other than that it might be a bit quiet on here for the next week or so.  Rest assured I’ll still be keeping in touch with what’s happening in Blogland on my iPad whilst I’m away though I probably won’t be able to post much, I’ll be far too busy lolling around in my onesie and watching Christmas films for that!

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