Christmas adventures in jolly old England! :)

I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas and got to spend it in the company of friends, family and loved ones all around!! I am back in Kentucky after two weeks back home in Manchester and I've been eager to sit down and write, so today is just a little catch up on my home visit and all the wonderful Christmas festivities that we got up to! :)

 

After spending last Christmas in Virginia, this was a sight I couldn't wait to see. This Christmas tree has grown up with my brother and sisters and I and it is our absolute favourite. All the ornaments have been with us since we were knee high to a grasshopper and lots of them have a little something special behind them. Every time I look at it I smile and feel happy inside. I love my Mom in laws tree, I love the new tree that my husband and I got this year, I love my candy tree, but I think this little baby tree with all it's colour and sparkle will always be my favourite! :) In saying that though, I'm excited to be going to Virginia in two weeks to have Christmas day with my family there and I'm looking forward to seeing the tree and Christmas decorations, as Mom makes it look like Santa's grotto. I'm very much prepared for three Christmas's every year now! :p

 

 

I was so excited that for the first week back home Kelly (my twin sister) and her husband Chris, (yes we are both married to Chris's and our brother is also a Chris...it only gets slightly confusing when all three are under the same roof :p) were still going to be there. It was the first time that the four of us were in England together and it made our Nanna and Grandad very happy. I miss Kelly and Chris so much now that we live in different places so it was beyond awesome to spend the week together. Kelly and I love Gingerbread men from Greggs, our Mum used to get us them when we were younger, so during a shopping trip to Stockport we had to get one. It's little moments like these that I love sharing with my sisters! Yum! :)

I love this goofy picture of my husband Chris and I. I had to capture the moment he was trying his first Indian takeaway, as you do, I like to scrapbook everything! :p It was a success and he gave it a thumbs up. The tandoori chicken was his favourite. :)

On Kelly and Chris's last day, we piled in the car with Dad and our sister Jenny and went to Chatsworth house. It was a lovely drive through little towns and villages and I really enjoyed showing Chris different parts of England. It's funny here in KY because you can drive for three hours and still be in KY, but at home you can drive an hour and be in Wales. With this outing, although still in England, the Peak District is completely different to Heaton Moor and I just love that. It was beautiful and Chatsworth house itself made for a great day out. The house had been transformed into Alice in Wonderland and every room was a different part of the story, it was incredible. We then had a blast in the gardens when we found a maze. My sisters and I turned into big kids and decided to pretend we were in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, fake wands were drawn and we ran around giggling trying to get to the middle of the maze. Alas, we could see and hear people in the middle but after about 20 minutes running around in fits of laughter we still could not figure out how to join them. Mind you, if it saved us a meeting with 'you know you' I guess we won!! :p Check out some of the cool things Chatsworth house has to offer here: http://www.chatsworth.org/

I was so excited that I finally got to take Chris to the Manchester (German) Christmas markets. I've been telling him all about them for so long, so it was so much fun showing him around. It was even better that my brother was able to come with us, as I love getting to spend time with him. Him and his friend made it a lovely evening out as they were able to show my Chris more cool things around Manchester. We got to go to a fun restaurant too, at the recommendation of my brother and his friend, and my Chris tried his first English BBQ. :p

I was going to try and write about Christmas day in the same post but I think we'd be here for hours! :p I will save that for a post in the coming days. But another place we got to go, before Kelly and Chris left, was The Trafford Center. It was lovely to see it decorated for the holidays and as we got there early in the morning it was nice and quiet and we got to leisurely walk around without bumping into people. Chris likes a lot of the English shops, with Next being his favourite, so it was an enjoyable morning out! :)

I shall leave my home adventures here for now and wish you all a wonderful day. If you got to anywhere nice over the holidays I would love to hear about them in the comments below. Also, if you have any cool places that you think I should take Chris too next time we are home, let me know! :)

Love Lulu. xx