Christmas and My Amazing Birthday

So it is now January, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and I wish you all an awesome 2012! 

First of all I would like to say that I did actually solve the advent calendar problem, if I acted like a small child trying to open it rather then ripping into it, like come sort of crazed being, then I did actually have to break the tin foil. I just had to remember to be a child when opening it. That probably made absolutely no sense what so ever... but it works. 

You may or may not know that it was my 18th birthday on the 22nd and a couple of my friends, Dan, Amy and Maddy (mainly Dan), had been going on about my birthday surprise. Now I literally thought they were going to decorate the table at the meal or something but oh no... they can do SO much better than that!  At some point in the afternoon around 3pm I think, I was just in my room with my sister and I was checking out my new laptop, which by the way is gorgeous, and I realised I hadn't had lunch yet. I was literally just getting up to go and make some toast when I received a call from a very creppy Maddy, who had made it an unknown call to add to the creepyness, telling me that a package had been left outside my house and I was to get it, read the instructions and leave the house in approximately 5 minutes with Ella. 

Maddy then hung up before I could even say anything, but as you can imagine I was a little confused and so my facial expression was a mixture of :S and :O 

Anyway, I went to the door and there was a HUGE brown envelope (they had stuck lots of big ones together) with a little white envelope stuck to it with 'Instuctions' written on. Me being me was to excited and opened the big envelope first to find a Stephopoly (Steph monopoly) board. It was awesome, it had road names round my area and so I was confused what I had to do. Zoe, my sister, told me that I should probably have opened the instructions first, so I did that and basically I had to leave the house and follow the board round. I left the house with Ella and Zoe and started to walk down the road. My board told me to look out for a fellow blonde and the first thing I saw was a blonde haired girl at the bottom of the road and I immediately knew it was Katie. As we got closer I could see she was holding a balloon, something Ella had not seen before, and so there was a lot of barking and dragging and eventually Zoe ended up taking her home - too much excitement! 

She gave me a 'cheeky chance card' telling me to swap an item of clothing with her, Katie gave me a scarf and I forgot to even give her anything - fail. I then walked down an alley way to find pictures up of me on the fences and my friend Amy at the other end, who's chance card told me to pole dance on the next lamp post. I thought they were filming me so I only swung round it... soz. There was also something about giving someone a piggy back but I don't know where that fitted in. We then walked on to where the board told us and found my friend Dani, and later on Keely and then finally Tim. All had chance cards but I did not fancy begging the person on my left to squeeze my bum - Daniel you disturbed little boy. 

The board then led me back down my road and to my house, where I found a banner and balloons on the door and Happy Birthday music coming from my bedroom. I entered the room to find it decorated with more balloons and banners and Dan, Amy and Maddy having a little party in my room. We then hugged it out, because we are awesome like that and then they gave me lots of lovely cards and presents. 

Later on we went to Zizzi for my birthday meal, where we wore pirate party hats and threw table confetti at each other. Mature adults we are. At one point they all passed party poppers around the table without me knowing and then all at once popped them over me! After the meal the restaurant staff dimmed the lights and they all sang happy birthday to me while they brought out a cake Dan and Amy had made. Unfortunately I laughed and blew the candle out early... oops :( never mind. I was so stuffed from my meal I could not even have a small slice of cake, I had to leave it until the next day and it was DELICIOUS!!! 

After the meal we went into a pub and Imy bought me my first legal drink, a cider. And it was very nice too! After staying a while in the pub we went back to mine and then after a while everyone but Dani was gone and she traditionally always sleeps over for my birthday. 

It was, to say the least, the BEST birthday EVER! And I would just like to say a MAHOOSIVE, GIGANTIC thank you to the lovely Dan, Amy, Maddy, Imy, Dani, Amy, Katie, Keely and Tim for making it so awesome!! I do love you guys rather a lot!!! Also a huge thank you to all my family that came round in the morning to give me cards and presents, and well done all of those from keeping the secret - I had no idea what so ever!! 

Christmas Questions

This does sound completely irrelevant to the title but...
I was watching tomorrow's Hollyoaks this evening and I was a little bit curious about what was going to happen to Nancy so I went on the Hollyoaks website to have a look if it said anything... but there was nothing. Anyway, while I was on the website I found an advent calendar where a member of the cast answer questions and I thought I would answer them too as they were quite good!

Favourite ever Christmas?

I don't think I could really pinpoint a specific Christmas because they have all be good but the best Christmases have got to be from when I was very young as the magic of Christmas was still alive! I remember believing in Santa, getting so excited on Christmas Eve and waking up exceptionally early due to the excitement! I really miss believing in Santa Claus any more as the magic of Christmas is slowly drifting away!

Worst ever Christmas?

The year when my Great Nan died in the morning, I went into the living room and found my mum crying and found out what was wrong, but I don't remember the rest of the day really, just that.
Actually I just remembered about something else... one year I got a lego castle set and I made it all and it was awesome and then my brother SAT ON IT!!!!!!!!!! Devastating...

Favourite present?

 Now this is a hard question because I can not possible remember every present I have ever been given but if I were to pick one I would say... my mug I was given this year by my grand parents! I think that is such a lovely gift to have something that was decorated specifically for me!

Worst ever present?

 I don't think I have really been given a worst present but just some very odd ones over the years but generally they just make me laugh so they aren't really a bad present as they are just funny!

Turkey or goose?

Turkey! Dunno if I have ever had a goose... not that I can remember anyway! I'm not really a lover of turkey anyway, I find it a little dry! I much prefer chicken! We had chicken this year! But we bought 2 so there was a lot! It was soo nice! Mmm... I want some more now! Ooh and this year my Step dad did something really interesting with the left over chicken and vegetables! He put it all into a food processor and made roast dinner burgers! They were so good!

Mince pies or Christmas pudding?

Now this is a hard one because I love both! I know! I will have both, with cream or brandy butter! I didn't have Christmas pudding this year :( never mind! I hope we have one next year! Instead we had a Jack Daniels Christmas cake, again, something that my Step dad had made! It was delicious!

Family Christmas or Christmas with a partner?

Can't beat a family Christmas really! But I've never had a partner Christmas, but surely the 2 can be mixed!

Holiday Christmas or home Christmas?

I would say a home Christmas! Get the fire going, get the stockings out, put the tree up... that's Christmas! I have never had a holiday Christmas, I think it would be a little odd! Especially if we went somewhere warm! Although, thinking about it... how cool would it be to go to Lapland for Christmas!! That would be MAGICAL!

What one present are you hoping for this Christmas?

Ok, so I can't really answer this one as Christmas has already gone but... I was hoping for a Where's Wally book... which I didn't get. But to be honest I am not too bothered as it was a little childish of me and I suppose I could buy one myself anyway!

What's your favourite part about Christmas?

When I was young, the best bit was the magic - Santa Claus! But now that is gone I still look forward to my stocking in the morning as I still get a little too excited and wake up early to check if it has been filled and to guess what is in it... of course!

Any New Year plans?

I have never done something for New Year, even though it would be quite good! But I usually watch the fireworks on TV! I'd love to actually go and see them but that's very doubtful! Yes I know I sound boring but never mind!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I had a great day today! Firstly going to sleep at around midnight and not being able to sleep due to the excitement! I did however manage to get back to sleep between 12 and 1 but then was re-awoken by 'Santa' (my mum) placing my stocking my the side of my bed!
Now I don't know about you but waking up in the middle of the night, when it is very dark, seeing a figure crouched down by the side of your bed is very creepy... hence why I freaked out a little! 'Santa' then gave me big hug to stop me from freaking out and then when I realised it was nothing to freak out about I said 'love you mum' to which she replied 'love you too Stephanie, go back to sleep'
'Santa' then left the room... but I couldn't get back to sleep so i picked up my stocking and started guessing what I had... I'm good at that game!!

Anyway, I did get back to sleep in the end but woke up at 6.30 and again couldn't get back to sleep! So I went round my room and covered all the places where light was coming out, put my duvet over my head and drifted back to sleep! I was then uncharacteristically woken up at about 9 o'clock so that we could open stockings - I am usually the one waking up everyone else!

So, after opening stockings we all just relaxed watching DVDs etc until the Christmas dinner was ready!! And it was sooooo nice!! My plate was piled high, and it true Christmas style... I ate it all!
On Christmas Eve I had found out that we had forgotten to buy crackers... so I made some with empty wrapping paper tubes, chocolates, crude jokes I found on the internet, tissue paper and ribbon! And they looked pretty damn good!! They went down a treat and we just made the BANG! sounds ourselves!

Here are a collection of some of the crude jokes I found on the internet:

Q. Did you hear about the flasher who was thinking of retiring?
A. He decided to stick it out for 1 more year!

Q. What does an old woman have between her breasts that a young woman doesn't?
A. A navel

Q. How did Pinocchio find out he was made of wood?
A. When his hand caught fire!


Q. What happens when you kiss a bird?
A. You get chirpes, it can't be tweeted!

Q. What's the difference between a snowman and a snow woman?
A. Snow women have s-no-wballs


And just in case you want any more... this is where I got them from!!

Click here for more crude jokes

After dinner, we relaxed more and then later on went to my Dad's house, munched on a beautiful ginger bread house made by my Dad's girlfriend, played black ops and just generally chatted. It was lovely!! :)

So that's my Christmas! And I know I shall have another great day tomorrow/ today (whatever you want to call it) 

Hope you had a very Merry Christmas!! I know I did! :)

Bean Boozled

I just remembered about writing about my Christmas stocking list and remembered about bean boozled... the weird flavoured jelly beans!

Well the other week my sister went into town with my mum and bought some because she really wanted to try some!

Here are a list of the flavours:

 Immediately when I got home I got a yellow jelly bean shoved in my face by my sister saying 'try this' and obviously I knew what it was so I tasted it anyway... luckily I got the buttered popcorn which was rather nice!

Later on I tried a brown one... now luckily I only bit of the end as it was absolutely vile!! I got dog food and I had to use mouthwash to get the flavour out of my mouth! It was gross the say the least! I had the smell of it on my hands so I washed them with a little bit of mouthwash too as soap was not working very well to get rid of the smell!

I also tried the blue one, got toothpaste, and I thought it was really nice!!
Anyway, me and my sister halved the packet and I thought I'll take them into school to trick some people... hehe :)

I was very disappointed when I was in Maths as we had a little break to have cake as it was the last lesson so I offered my friend Keely a jelly bean with her cake and she obviously took up the offer. However, I gave her a brown one and I was dying for her to get a dog food one but she didn't... damn.

At break time I gave my friend Dan an orange one and just to make it look normal I gave my friend Amy a blue one (as it was a nice one and she already new about it as we had been planning who to give them to). Dan got vomit flavoured and he was keeping quiet until I asked him what it tasted like and then his face started to turn. I asked if it tasted like sick and he said yes but ate it all! After that I gave him 3 tic tacs and he then has minty sick breath for the rest of the day.

We then went outside and offered Joe a red one, sadly he got jam so I offered him another and he got centipede... it was pretty funny and he spat it out and then was just complaining about the taste and spitting on the floor.

Tim then wanted to try one so we gave him a green one and he got the boggie flavoured one which was quite funny as he said it didn't taste very nice!

In tech I offered Liam a green one, and he also got boggie flavoured and his facial expressions were quite funny!

After this, Jess asked to have one so I gave her a white one and she got baby wipes and she spat it out... apparently it was disgusting!

I decided to have the last one, a white one, as I was curious to find out what baby wipes taste like... but I got coconut flavoured one, which was rather nice!

So many of my friends have 'bean boozled' ;) and it was funny

It's my Birthday Eve!

It is my birthday tomorrow :) and I am rather excited!! I have a friend coming over and I also asked my mum to make me a pass the parcel... I'm totally not turning 17 tomorrow.......

Now, as much as I love the snow it has rather cocked up my plans for tomorrow... well a little but I think I will live!

To start off with my brother had rather nicely booked me my first driving lesson on my birthday but due to the snow it has had to be cancelled... for obvious reasons. But yes, I can live with that as it's not the end of the world!

Secondly, I was planning to have 3 of my friends over for a sleepover but now only 1 can come... just like last year! But really the snow is not to blame as it is the ice which is the problem and I can totally sympathise with my friend's mum not wanting to drive in the snow! But really the second friend that is now not coming has nothing to do with the snow!
Never the less, I will have a good time and I will see them another time :)
I would invite other people instead but I don't want them to feel like they are second best if you know what I mean even though I would have liked these people to come in the first place but we simply don't have the room!

Lastly, I would just like to add that the ICE made me fall flat on my bum the other day when I was watching down my hill... not cool! Like I said at the time to my sister... if it is possible to break your bum, I think I did! Although I clearly didn't as I quickly forgot about it after a while as it stopped hurting!

Regardless to the snow now ruining a few of my plans I did have a great time sledging the other day... however I was a little bit pissed off when my BRAND NEW sledge which cost £20 (expensive!!!) got a hole in the bottom of it after just 3 goes down the slope! But the be fair it was probably when I couldn't stop and then went off the end of the slope and landed the other side of a small drop on some snow covered stones!
But I think I will try and fix the sledge as I am not going to go out and buy another one... and I can always use the other one that I went and bought too. Although my sister might moan... but I don't care haha!

But I am afraid there was no snowman/woman/animal as I was too cold after sledging to go outside! So that will have to wait until next time :)

I don't think I am the only one who is a little bit annoyed that the snow didn't come a week later that it did because then we would have had a white Christmas... shame :( I would have been so happy, but then again it may have stopped me seeing my Dad which would have sucked!

Now I'm not sure where we got our association of snow with Christmas because it rarely ever snows at Christmas in the UK... but perhaps its just an association with Winter or Santa or something like that!

My top 5 favourite things about Christmas:

1. The Food - Got to be THE BEST thing about Christmas! There is always lots of great food like turkey, pigs in blankets, mince pies, Christmas pudding. And towards the end of this week I shall be attempting a ginger bread house... hopefully that will go well :S

2. The TV - TV at Christmas time is always so good! There are loads of great films like Elf and Horton Hears a Who. And also Christmas specials of our favourite TV shows which are (usually) good!

3. The Christmas Tree - Whenever it is time to put the Christmas tree up it really does put me in the Christmasy mood! Always a good thing!

4. Family - So I admit this is an obvious and perhaps cheesy one, but what would Christmas be without family! This year I am at my house for Christmas morning and Christmas lunch (and I will persuade my family to play monopoly) and then in the afternoon I will be going off to my Dad's house which will be great too :)

5. The Music - This is a bit like the tree but whenever I hear a Christmas song it really puts me in the Christmasy mood and I can't resist a little sing along :)

Dreaming of a White Christmas

So we all know it's nearly Christmas (16 days to go... wahoo) and I have to say today I am feeling particularly festive today!
This morning I had a free period and as usual I was 'doing my English presentation' but there was something so much more important on my mind - Christmas!!

As the title of this blog suggests, I am hoping that we have a white Christmas this year! (So is Amy SB - you get a mention wooo) I think that would be amazing! I don't think I have ever had a white Christmas so I would find it quite exciting :) I shall keep hoping for one because it really would make Christmas!!

I was hungry and therefore, feeling very annoyed with myself that I had stupidly forgotten to eat my advent calendar chocolate this morning. Not only was I feeling hungry, but I was also unable to remember what the date was because December is the only month where I could tell you what the date is so easily because of the amazing creation that is the advent calendar!

While on the subject of advent calendars I was thinking how pointless it was to open them in the way we do, 1-24, because personally I think it would be more logical to open it starting at 24 and ending at 1 because then we could count down the days until Christmas! Therefore, I have decided that next year I will open my advent calendar backwards :)

Another amazing think about Christmas is the food and the TV! Now, since I have had freesat I have fallen in love with The Food Network channel (405) IT IS AMAZING! The best show has got to be food network challenge, where they made all kinds of big crazy cake and sculptures made from sugar and chocolate. But as it is nearly Christmas they have had people building giant ginger bread houses, a gingerbread house competition and stuff like this so I have decided that in the holidays I am going to try and make a ginger bread house... only a little one... no giant ones for me :( Also I have been given some ideas for some cookies which I may make next week and give to my friends :)

Byeee

Just to say 'hello' and talk about snow :)

Ok so I thought I would try out this whole blogging thing because it sounded like a bit of fun :)

I'm Steph and I am 16, I enjoy cooking (mainly baking) and I admit I am a bit of child when it comes to snow. But seriously, who doesn't like waking up in then morning and opening the curtain to find a nice white blanket of snow outside!

I had this amazing feeling for the first time since January on Tuesday, when my mum came into my room at 6.30 and opened my curtains. Immediately I jumped out of bed when I saw and I was so excited for the snow to lay more (which it did).
Unfortunately on Tuesday there was not enough snow to stop me going to school but on Thursday it did get heavier and so school shut... for the first time in ages!
Rather than using my time productively on this day I decided I would do what everyone should do when it snows - make a snowman... well woman. I named her Snowfie and I think she is pretty damn awesome, if I do say so myself.

However, I woke up this morning and checked outside to find Snowfie, headless and with her top section toppled over behind her! I'm not gonna lie I was a little upset about this as it was a traumatic experience ;) but obviously I didn't make a big deal about it!
Unlike the woman who rang the police about a stolen snowman...

I had another childish moment this morning when I was asked to write a Christmas stocking list for my mum. Obviously I put down some DVDs, a Michael Bublé CD and stuff like that but I also put down some awesome things like play doh and a Where's Wally book and I really do hope that I find these in my stocking!! I'll be so happy :)
I also put something pretty cool down - bean boozled (http://www.hawkin.com/20670-10661-HBGIFTSSWEET/gifts/sweet-gifts/bean-boozled)
They look so funny and I did spend about an hour watching funny youtube videos of people eating them :)

Anyway that's all for now! I hope you enjoyed reading my first blog :) Byee