5 Festive Family Films To Watch This December & Giveaway

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I love December, there is excitement in the air as everyone looks forward to Christmas and children are super excited to see what Santa will bring. December can be such a busy time of year though, with shopping to do, Christmas parties, Pantomime visits, trips to see Santa and festive days out as well as lots of school activities too. We have been so busy that as soon as the children break up from school I am planning on doing nothing! We will be having a few lazy days at home, watching Christmas films and relaxing. 

As a family we love sitting down with mugs of hot chocolate to watch Christmas films, it gets us all in the Christmas spirit. Fox have some great festive films that the whole family will enjoy including all-time favourite Home Alone! So here is a look at five festive films that are perfect for families to enjoy this December. 

Festive Tales With Father Christmas At Woodhorn Museum

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On Saturday we were invited along to Woodhorn Museum in Ashington, Northumberland to experience their Festive Tales with Father Christmas event and the children had such a lovely time. For those who don't know Woodhorn Museum is a former colliery based just outside of the former mining town of Ashington at the Queen Elizabeth 11 Country park in Northumberland - about half an hour north of Newcastle. Despite only living 20 minutes away I have never visited Woodhorn since I was a child and the children had never visited before so I had no idea what to expect. 

Festive Tales with Father Christmas costs £6.50 per child and includes a gift, which I think is really good value. Adults do not pay but they do need to either buy or use their annual membership which costs £7 per year - under 16s are free. Arriving at Woodhorn in the afternoon everywhere was lit up with hundreds of white twinkling fairy lights which looked magical. 

November 2019

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It feels like so long since I sat down to write a blog post about what we have been up to, as I have just been so busy. I can not believe that we are now less than two weeks away for Christmas and I am not prepared at all this year (again) I still have shopping to do, although we have most of the children's gifts now - we just need to collect Sophia's bike from Halfords and buy clothes and stocking fillers. I have not written any Christmas cards out yet or bought wrapping paper and we have only just put our Christmas tree up two days ago. We have just been so busy that we haven't had a chance to do anything, so what have we been up to? 

Jack And The Beanstalk Pantomime At Whitley Bay Playhouse Review

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It just wouldn't be Christmas without a trip to the pantomime and as a family, one pantomime that we always look forward to is the one at Whitley Bay's Playhouse. We have been going to see the pantomime here for the past four years and it is always the children's favourite one as it is perfect for young children. This year's panto was Jack and the Beanstalk produced once again by Blue Genie Entertainment and starring Ashleigh Butler and Sully the dog, former X-Factor contestant Molly Scott, Playhouse legend Steve Walls and the return of Playhouse favourites Damian Patton, Dame Patsy Trott and David Burton. 

Settling in our seats we were transported to Happyvale and as soon as the curtains were up the audience was captivated with the singing, dancing and non-stop silliness of the cast. Last year I mentioned that there were not enough jokes for us grow-ups well this year there was plenty, myself and my husband were laughing along just as much as the children with many of the jokes going totally over their heads. 

Things I Loved November 2019

I feel like such a whinge and a broken record at the moment but the last few months have been tough and November was no exception, it is normally one of my favourite months but this November was rubbish. I feel awful complaining when there are people so much worse off than us but it has been really tough, I have been unwell since October as I can't seem to fully shift this awful virus I have had. We have had huge money worries due to a big and unexpected bill which is not helped when I am owed a lot of blog money which is all late - not what you need close to Christmas when you have your children's gifts to buy.  It sounds dramatic but late payments can be so stressful and it has got to the point that it has made me not want to blog anymore. 

I hate being a negative nancy though so I have been thinking of things that made me happy so here are some of the things I loved in November 2019. 

Carrot Ginger Red Pepper And Turmeric Soup Recipe

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At this time of year I always crave comforting home-made food, I definitely cook a lot more in the wintertime. As a busy mam (aren't we all busy these days) I am often short on time and don't get to experiment in the kitchen much these days so normally play it safe making meals that we all know and love. However, sometimes it can get a bit boring eating the same foods over and over again. So earlier this week I decided to make a new soup as I really fancied a bowl of warming home-made soup - perfect on cold winter days!

I had been sent some Turmeric from Schwartz and decided to try and incorporate this into my soup recipe and made a carrot, ginger, red pepper and turmeric soup. It was not something that I had ever made before but I was pleasantly surprised with how it turned out as it was comforting but had a little bit of a kick from the turmeric.