Christmas Festive Season Round-up

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! A round-up of all the Christmas festive season activities from Santa’s Grotto to cinema dates. 

We love Christmas! It is really our favourite time of the year. Kenz is as enthusiastic about Christmas as Clark Griswold from the National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Everything has to be perfect – from the Christmas decor to advent calendars and Christmas presents. Let’s put it this way, Kenz is done buying Christmas gifts by August. As for me, Christmas presents come as late as Three King’s Day. In addition to visiting Windsor Castle over break, here is a round up for our fun-filled Christmas festive season. 

Advent Calendars

In keeping to tradition, we each have an individual advent calendar to open throughout the month of December. This year’s Advent Calendar included:  Disney Mickey & Friends Funko Pop for Lady Yeya; Star Wars Funko for Kenz; a Lily’s Kitchen Dog Treat for Buddy; and a Fortnum & Mason Gin Box for mum. We also added a beautiful Fortnum & Mason wooden Advent Calendar which we filled with three Lindt and Ferrero Rocher chocolates for each day. Every morning we looked forward to opening our advent calendars together as a family. A joyful tradition to get into the holiday spirit and the final countdown to Christmas. 

10th Buddiversary

2024 marks 10 years since we found our beloved Buddy on the suburban streets of Sacramento. Sweet Buddy is still the best Christmas gift ever – a Christmas miracle. For the past decade, Buddy has been a joyful part of our family, giving us unconditional love and lots of cuddles through the highs and lows of life. From bereavements to parenthood, and everything in between, Buddy has been there for us. Buddy is truly one-of-a-kind and we are grateful to have found each other on that fateful day on 17 December 2014. 

Christmas Parties & Santa’s Grotto

December is always filled with corporate office parties and Christmassy drinks. My company team party was at Cloud 23 at Hilton Manchester Deansgate. But being middle-aged, I left the party early in favor of some much needed beauty rest. I had a blissful quiet morning without being on mom duty. Kenz had two office Christmas dinners, including one at Roast in Borough Market. He also attended a private dinner at The Langham Hotel hosted by a former colleague, and a charity event at Coutt’s Bank on The Strand. Kenz’ office also organised a Kid’s Christmas Party at The Shard for staff and family, which was lovely for the children to meet. The last stop was to visit Santa’s Grotto at John Lewis on Oxford Street for a very Christmasaurus-themed event. Then it was on to seeing the gorgeous Christmas lights on Bond Street before heading to our friend’s for drinks and dinner. 

Cinema Dates and Movie Marathons

Growing up in California, going to the cinema to see a holiday blockbuster was always part of the Christmas break. We organised an outing with another family to see Moana 2 in Leicester Square, followed by dinner in town. Personally, the music and storyline in the original Moana was much better. A few days later, Lady Yeya invited one of her friends to see Mufasa together, which we highly recommend. Back at home, Lady Yeya watched all nine Star Wars movies and is now a huge fan of Star Wars, much to Kenz’ delight. Father and Daughter even geek out to Skeleton Crew, Bad Batch and Clone Wars on Disney+.

Christmas Cheers

One of the things we love about Christmas is getting together with dear friends and family for some Xmassy cheers. Friends came around for afternoon tea; others stopped by for some wine and cheese; and friends came around for homemade Japanese ramen. Thank you dear friends who hosted us during this holiday season, especially on Christmas Eve where we feasted on smoked salmon, herring, and roast duck. 

On Christmas Eve, cookies and carrots are left out for Santa and his reindeers. On Christmas Day, we always have breakfast together followed by a family walk around our neighborhood park. Then it was on to a charcuterie and bubbles whilst we opened Christmas presents. This year, the theme was all about cultivating new hobbies. Lady Yeya received a Roland digital keyboard, whilst Kenz got a new rotisserie kit for his Big Green Egg. Both are gifts that keep giving! 

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And that’s a wrap for the Christmas Festive Season. Then it was onto another tradition: our annual “crimbo” trip.