That festive feeling

Let's be honest. Covid is still raging and there's not much going on. I went to one event this Christmas and I was pretty nervous about it to be honest. Apart from that everything has been cancelled! So I've just been going about my business.

Still dressing up a bit, obviously!

I started wearing silk masks some time ago. I felt so bad wearing disposable ones, but I just cannot breath in fabric masks. I get anxious and start to panic because I feel like I'm being suffocated. I tried lots (have quite a few now useless fabric masks that I will donate after Christmas!). I did some research and apparently silk is a fabulous fabric to keep the nasties out. Plus it's lightweight and breathable. I love love love my silk masks. My face has been far less irritated too! If you have a small want a lightweight mask then this one is perfect (search amazon for mulberry silk masks and you'll find them, reduced to around a fiver nowadays!).

A dress from the Shein mega sale. I think it cost me around £7 and it love it with a burning passion!

Here it is in the daytime (without suitable underwear!). Stretch velvet stripes in teal.... mt absolute favourite colour! Don't believe me? Wanna see my new sheets?!

My joint christmas and birthday present to myself. 19 momme silk sheets from lilysilk. I already had the matching lilysilk pillowcases, and I just thought fuck it! I want a super king quilt and I want it to be in a silk cover. I'm about to turn 40 and comfort and pleasure is all I really want nowadays. The sheets really are sublime! Expensive, but sublime! Ps, lilysilk have a great rewards points system, so the sensible thing to do is buy your most expensive purchase first, then use the point towards the smaller things, so get the duvet in one order, then use the points to buy your pillowcases!

Anyway.... I really have digressed!

We went to see Matthew Bourne's Nutcracker. Camper than Christmas. Just an excuse for me to listen to Tchaikovsky's suite which is just my absolute favourite! So I had to get dressed up to go to the ballet, right?!

Perfect outfit I think!

Plus Shein earrings to turn that Christmas sparkle up to max!

We didn't get to go out and do anything Christmassy last year, so this one little outing felt so special! As did wondering around London a bit. I do so love this time of year, even if that days are often relentlessly grey!

We had our couples christmas before I went west the next day, and I cooked a feast, so less glamour, more modern Mrs Clause 😂

Just a quick detour..... I couldn't be without red lippy in December, but I'm still wearing a mask sporadically throughout the day and liquid lipstick is not something I can wear often because my lips despise it generally. My glossier generation G blotted lippy isn't too bad under a mask, but I just wanted bright red lips. It occurred to me that around 15 years ago I only really used to wear lip ink. Pixi used to make an incredible lip ink pen that was bright scarlett and I wore it all the time. It was very trendy back in the day so lot's of companies jumped on the bandwagon and I had lots of colours. I guess they went out of fashion so I could never replace the ones that ran out or went off, and to be fair by that point matte lipstick had hit the shelves. But bullet lipsticks are no good with a mask so I sent on a hunt for lip stain pens. Stargazer for the win! The colours don't match the ink but just assume the lippy is at least 3 shades darker than you'd imagine!

Back to the Faux Christmas!

So here is the feast! Roast duck. Shredded brussels fried in butter. Parsnips roasted in maldon salt and cracked black pepper. Carrots roasted in honey and clementine zest & juice. Red cabbage stewed with apple and cranberries (plus cinnamon and red wine vinegar!). Duck fat roast potatoes. Pigs in blankets (only bit i didn't make myself). Red wine gravy and my favourite homemade stuffing. I'm gonna tell you what's in it because I love it so much and I've been making it for so many years!

Fry some Pancetta until crispy then put it in a bowl. Use the hot fat to fry some fresh sage until crisp, then put that in the bowl too. Fry up some onion until soft and add that to the bowl too. Grate or finely chop some sharp apple and chuck that in. Salt. Fine pepper. Lots of sausage meat. And then the magical ingredient! Panettone! Blitz traditional (the one with candied fruits) Panettone in a food processor until you have breadcrumbs. Mix it all together with your hands and then pack into a lined loaf tin to bake. That way you can slice it like a meatloaf to go in sandwiches!

Then I headed to my family for Christmas and it was a big deal this year for so many reasons. My mother was ill again. My uncle (her brother) was also ill and has since passed. My Grandmother passed away and I couldn't go to her funeral or see my Dad. 2021 - and to be honest a fair bit of 2022) was a clusterfuck, so it felt very important to be with our families this year! But anyway, I managed it so here are some photos from the Parsnips Family Christmas! Pretty much everything I wore came from Shien and isn't available anymore, but I highly reccomend them just generally!

My Mum was EXTRA this year!

I think it's a tradition now and we will always spend New year's eve together playing top trumps and getting drunk, even without pandemic panic!

Already a bit jolly by this point!

I got this dress from boohoo more than a year ago (in the sales for like £25!) but they do seem to re-release it every winter. It came in Rose Gold (this one!), Gold..... more champagne really, and Black

It was messy, and funny!