Results matching “Christmas”

The year 2014 has been another busy year for me. I've taken a lot of photographs and here's a selection of some of the things I got up to but never posted about for the lack of time.

Lady Dinah's Cat Cafe Emporium (London's Cat Cafe). I visited the cat cafe a couple of days after it opened, and the cafe is located near to where I work, so I made other visits throughout the year. I also had some crowd-funding vouchers to use. My original post can be read here: London's Cat Cafe. On my second visit, I tried a bagel and macaroons. I spent half of my time on this visit working as I had my work laptop with me, so I did not spend much time with the cats. The bagels and other food are sourced from other locations as food is not made on site. The bagels are famous Brick Lane bagels from around the corner. 

Early was eventful. I bought flowers to brighten up the flat, and cupcakes are always a treat. We went to a birthday party in the Cotswolds for friends we have not seen for awhile who also love the MINI car. I loved the MINI birthday cake. They had also just fixed up their new house, which had to be completely re-developed. This was  a joint house-warming and birthday and was a nice party.

As the weather started to warm up in the spring, I saw a deal to explore the Williams-Martini Forumla One musuem at their headquarters. The hedges in the front were designed like a pit stop and race car. We saw the trophies, helmets, and famous cars. All of their cars are in the museum. During race days, they offer a watch of the game with live feed from the team. I had so many photographs of this.

The summer was also a busy one, and a lot of different things were going on which I have already blogged about.

In the spring/early summer, my partner and I had a horrible train journey home as there were delays and we were both fed up. As a treat, we went to the Thai restaurant in Basingstoke. We had cocktails to start, followed by a meal.

We celebrated my birthday in Ireland and went on a long road trip. I still have most of my photographs from that trip to go through and post! We went to Pizza Express restaurant when we returned as they sent me a voucher for a free bottle of Prosecco to celebrate my birthday.  

I had my birthday cake in Ireland. My partner surprised me with a small birthday cake that he purchased on our visit to Cork! We celebrated my birthday in a nice bed and breakfast in Kilkenny. 

On Fridays, most of the office got to leave early this summer. I am a contractor, so it did not apply to me, sadly. However, I was feeling in a summery mood as the first day was so warm. We had so many warm days this summer. The bloke and I decided to go to TGI Friday's for a meal on one of these days because there were huge problems with the trains at Waterloo, and I suggested that we just head to Charing Cross and walk to Covent Garden for a meal instead of being uncomfortable.

At the end of July, we had taken the Friday off to go to Liverpool to see Giants. We went down the road toward Newbury and stopped at the American diner for breakfast. I had pancakes, and he had a bacon sandwich. Service was incredibly slow, and we ended up stuck in stop-start traffic all the way to Liverpool and it took over eight hours on a journey that should have only taken 3.5 hours. 

Tube strikes were a bit of an issue, and I walked from Waterloo to the middle of Brick Lane on one day. There's a nice photo of the Thames.

I went out to the restaurant Cafe Galvin in Spitalfields with a colleague, and I had a chicken salad and a cocktail.

I visited Lady Dinah's Cat Cafe again. I interacted a little more with the cats but did not stay long this time as I had some laptop issues. (Thankfully, they have recently given me a new laptop at last!) They had amazing rainbow cake, made by one of London's best bakeries that I will be posting about in the new year, and nice hot chocolate. The kitties were more playful this visit, and they have started to close the cafe on Wednesdays, so I think the kitties were more active. My visit was on the first Thursday after they started to shut on Wednesdays.

The Bowler - Gourmet Balls (meatballs) had a pop-up at the Horse and Groom pub in Shoreditch. I popped in and had a try of the turkey Thai meatballs, which did taste yummy. The sauce was delicious. 

Most of my time this year was spent on Brick Lane at work. I've taken a photo from one of the windows in the office. I stayed in a hotel on Brick Lane to lessen the commute for a few nights. The view was impressive.

At the end of August, we went to east London to Secret Cinema. The next day we had lunch and walked around Stratford Westfield. We went to Jamie's Italian, which I have been wanting to try for ages but ended up not too impressed with. We had some fruity drinks and I had a brownie with toffee popcorn and ice cream. It was a little bit rich.

Bird restaurant on Kingsland Road as The Doughnut Hatch. I had a cinammon-glazed doughnut, which was alright. I have been wanting to try this restaurant for awhile now, so I will have to make this a priority in the new year.

A lot of sculpture trails took place later in the year. I tucked into some macaroons from Westfield Stratford after a quick nip around the Olympic Park when I went to look for the London bus sculptures.

Mother Clucker sells fried buttermilk chicken from a van in Ely's Yard near Brick Lane. This is one of the popular pop-ups for colleagues at work.

After shopping in Basingstoke in the early autumn, the bloke and I went to Cafe Rouge. The food is always pretty good. I snapped a dessert photo. This is a chocolate "melting-in-the-middle" sponge and was good.

I've never been to Wimpey fast food restaurant chain before. The bloke and I finally tried the one in Basingstoke. This restaurant has been here for a few years, but I never tried it.

I snapped a photograph of St. Paul's Cathedral from Millennium Bridge on one of the sculpture trails.

At the end of November and the beginning of December, I went to Nuremberg in Germany. I was impressed with the postmarks. I have been active in Postcrossing (http://www.postcrossing.com) this year, and I collect stamps and postcards, so I got some special Nuremberg Christmas Market postmarks.

Christmas trees for sale began to pop up in early December in London, and I liked the "PimpMyTree" stand outside of BoxPark. The office had a small Christmas Friday party. Every Friday, they offer free drinks. In mid-December, they had food and carollers.

I went out for cocktails with a friend at the Basingstoke Tea Bar, which I reviewed earlier in the year.

Colleagues and I went out to St. John's Bread and Wine restaurant in Spitalfields, but the food is not something that I would typically have. The menu is a little strange. I settled on beans, ham, and duck egg. This was served cold. It was not to my liking. The desserts (I had chocolate cake and rapsberry ice cream) were nice. They also do an excellent brownie and the best bacon sandwich.

I made chocolate mousse. Yummy.

The Tower of London poppy display brought in many visitors. 

I love photographing macaroons.

I did some walking in London with the sculpture trails - Tower Bridge and London's Little Italy.

On some Thursdays and Fridays, Spitalfields Market brings classic cars (courtesy of classic car clubs) to the square, and I always like to see what they have on display when I walk past in the mornings, before the market opens.

I captured raindrops on flowers in front of a pub across from Spitalfields Market one day in the spring.

There's a flower shop near to a hotel on Shoreditch High Street. Next to the flower shop a hole-in-the-wall shops sells coffee and smoothies from a window. In the summer, they sold ice lollies. These were pretty dear, but I bought one as we had some very hot days in the summer. The lolly was pure watermelon juice.

Shoreditch always attracts camera crew constantly. I've seen The Apprentice and commercials shot here. These guys were shooting a commercial, but I forget what the brand was.

A design agency located on Hanbury Street sometimes use their window for attracting pop-ups and games. Conker King was one of these games with a play on retro games and the game 'conkers', featuring conkers (horse chestnut, or buckeyes to my American readers) on strings. A set of rules is located nearby, along with 'Player 1' and 'Player 2' designated conkers.

I love Muriel's Kitchen in South Kensington (originally posted here), and this spring I noted that one had opened in a prime spot in Leicester Square. I got hungry on one day when I was spending the whole day tracking down Paddington Bears, so I decided to stop in and had a chicken burger and a brownie.

Gelateria 3BIS is located in Borough Market, and they sell ice cream and other snacks and coffees. I visited with my parents in the summer and we were just looking for a quick place to sit as we'd been walking for awhile and were tired. I had my favourite, pistachio ice cream. I did not expect much, but this ice cream is delicious and I intend to visit it again.

This Christmas, Marks & Spencer launched some new desserts for their Chrismas pudding range. These pictured were dark and white chocolate mousse stars and chocolate mousse crackers, and they were delicious. They also had other delicious-looking desserts on offer, but I did not try them. The mousse crackers were one of the best desserts that I had eaten in awhile.

Christmas this year was spent in Scotland. There's a photograph of the Christmas tree before we went away. We spent a day in Liverpool and ate our dinner at an Asian-fusion restaurant Yee-Rah and had cocktails earlier in the day at Albert Dock at Circo, a circus-themed bar. I took several photographs of Liverpool's Christmas lights too.

Here's hoping for a better 2015 for everyone.

Before Christmas, I visited the town of Rothenburg ob der Tabeur in Bavaria, Germany. The town is a well-preserved medieval town with the majority of its city walls intact. The town is located about the river Tabeur, and there are stunning views. Cobble-stoned streets lead off to picturesque buildings and towers. 

I had a day trip here from Nuremberg, and we parked at one of the western entrances and walked into the city walls and into town.

We came to the market square and went into several shops as the Christmas Market stalls were not yet open.

I admired the beautiful architecture.

We walked down the hill from the main street and popped into a few of the shops.

The following photograph shows one of the most beautiful locations from Rothenburg ob der Tabeur, at Kobolzeller Steige and Spitalgasse. I had to take several photographs. This was in the morning, but the area was still busy. I visited Rothenburg on a Monday, but I have been told that the town can get extremely crowded, and weekends may be one of the busy days. The town is particularly busy with Japanese tourists, and it is twinned with one town in Japan.

I loved the hidden areas of this town. Walk down any street, and there was always a surprise waiting for us.

The Christmas Market opens from 11:00 in the morning, so we headed up to the market square, taking in the beautiful buildings. This town was lucky to have not been destroyed during World War II. It survived for a number of reasons, but one reason we read was that an American soldier or commander was familiar with it as his mother had a picture of it, so he knew it was important to keep it from being destroyed.

Nativity scenes are quite common in Germany, and the Christmas Market area in Rothenburg had their own display.

We visited the Kathe Wolfahrt shop, which is one of the largest in the world. Kathe Wolfahrt sells Christmas decorations. This one has a Christmas museum inside it, so we popped in here to have a look before the Christmas market opened. We learned about the history of Christmas decorations.

Photographs were not allowed inside the museum or the Kathe Wolfahrt shop, unfortunately.

We had lunch at one of the hotels in Rothenburg and ended up being the only diners. The food was nice, and I had chicken in mushroom sauce with another item that the Germans call "noodles", which may have been potato and batter/flour.

After the meal, we browsed around the Christmas market.

I had a mulled punch (non-alcoholic punch can be bought, and it's really meant for children). This came with a biscuit.

After the browse around the market, we went into the City Hall in the market square. For a small fee, one can climb up the tower to have a good view over the picturesque town.

Rothenburg ob der Tabeur is well-known for its festive fried and battered treat, the snowball (schneeball). Traditionally, this is covered in powdered sugar, but other varieties can also be purchased, such as chocolate. The dessert does not taste that great as it's just pastry crust and does not have much flavour.

I loved the little details on all of the buildings.

There are so many beautiful areas to this town. 

In the afternoon and after we browsed the Christmas Market, we had a walk around the city walls. This takes the majority of the time, and half a day is needed to just walk the city walls. I'll be covering this in a later post. 

Rothenburg was one of the most beautiful towns that I've visited, and it reminded me of several of the small towns that I have visited in Alsace-Lorraine.

This year and last year, I admired the Christmas wreaths hung on the doors of the traditional silk weaver houses in Spitalfields. The silk weavers were Protestant immigrants from France who moved to London due to religious persecution, as France was a Catholic country. The king of England at the time (Charles II) allowed these French Huguenots to come to England as he knew that they were skilled workers, and the availability of silk changes fashion and changed the east end of London dramatically.

When they moved to London, they built these tall townhouses and the upstairs had a lot of natural light with large windows, so they used to weave the silk upstairs. The French influence can be seen in the shutter designs, and the buildings are beautiful with large doorways with some interesting door knockers.

 These photographs in this post are from this year and last year.

I hope that everyone had a good holiday.

Happy Christmas to all of my readers. On this day, I am celebrating my 1000th post on Jenikya.com! I first started my blog as my portfolio website with updates in 2001. I originally started it to provide updates and new pieces of work, and then included inspiration on topics such as technology, visual design, user experience, web development, photography and art. The blog has grown to cover a bit more based upon my interests in the subjects already mentioned.

Snowman cupcake

Happy holidays and New Year. I hope that you have enjoyed following me.

London looks pretty during the Christmas season. I enjoy looking at London's Christmas lights every year, and this This year had a mixture of new lights and lights used in previous years. I had a walk around west London on various days to get some photographs. 

Oxford Street used the same lights as the previous year. These are silvery-white orbs that go all the way down the street. They are simple yet very pretty.

The usual shops were lit up, such as Boots and John Lewis and Marks and Spencers. I recognised them from last year. However, I think Debenham's lights on Oxford Street this year are new.

Selfridges used its "Destination Christmas" sign with mushrooms on top on the main entrance.

New Bond Street has new Christmas lights which remind me of peacock feathers and diamonds. South Molton Street have used the same archway lights as they did last year.

Stella McCarney's shop in Mayfair was decorated with several lights. 

Carnaby Street's Christmas lights are always one of my favourites, and they always do a unique set of lights every Christmas. In the past, we had robins and Rolling Stones lips. This year, to celebrate the Christmas and 1960s music and fashion street, we had headphones and sunglasses and mustaches. When examined at a certain angle, these separate shapes form a Santa-like figure wearing sunglasses and headphones.

I was in this area during the Christmas light switch-on for Regent Street. I watched some fireworks get launched and brighten up the sky on Carnaby Street.

Regent Street's lights have been the same for a few years now. They simply replace the plaque in the middle of the lights. This year, their Christmas lights are sponsored by the film "Night at the Museum".

Here's some photographs of these lights lit up after the light switch-on ceremony.

Each year, the statue of Eros at Piccadilly Circus becomes the centrepiece for something festive. Last year, it was a snowglobe. This year, Eros is surrounded by a pile of gifts that light up in different colours.

I did not get photographs, but I did see Seven Dials' new lights this year, which I feel are an improvement on the strands of lights that they have had for the past couple of years. Covent Garden retains its large red baubles and Christmas tree, although they do have a new reindeer, which I previously posted about here.

The Christmas lights are more prominent in west London, but the City of London and east London also have Christmas lights. The displays are not as large, though. Broadgate, near Liverpool Street, has its own ice rink. Outside is a giant lit-up reinderr.

I have included some posts from previous years:

2012 Christmas lights and window displays

2012 Marmite Oxford Street lights

2013 Christmas lights and Eros snowglobe

2013 Christmas lights

After Thanksgiving, the bloke and I jetted off to Germany to spend a few days visiting Nuremberg and its famous Christmas market (Nürnberger Christkindlesmarkt). We arrived on Friday evening, the opening day of the Christmas market. We headed into the city's main square (Hauptmarkt) after dropping off our luggage at the hotel. As it was the opening day, the market was exceptionally busy.

On the way to the main square, we walked through Ludwig Platz where we saw a living nativity with donkeys, goats, an alpaca, and a camel. The Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus were not living, of course. We saw the animals here almost every day that we walked past the nativity, though they do take them away at night.

The Christmas Market in Nuremberg consists of the main market, a children's market, and a sister city market. The sister city market is based on Nuremberg's twinned (sister) cities, and each has its own market stall that specialises in its country's products off of the main square. For example, shortbread and whisky were available to buy in the Glasgow stall. American sweets were available from the Atlanta, Georgia stall.

The Christmas market is huge, and it took us about half of a day to go through it and see everything. We did visit it a few times over the few days that we were there, but we had a proper look around all of the stalls on one of the weekday mornings when the market was quieter.

The market gets incredibly busy as the day goes on, and dusk is the busiest time to visit the market. At times, such as the weekend and the opening night, it was too busy to browse. I do not enjoy browsing busy places as it is impossible to have a proper look.

The fountain in the Hauptmarkt is called Schöner Brunnen, and during the Christmas market, all but one side is surrounded by stalls. A gold ring is located on the railing of the fountain, and turning this three times will make wishes come true. The fountain was always surrounded by tour groups during our visits to the market.

Upon entering the square, visitors will see a large gold tinsel angel. This is one of the symbols of Nuremberg. The golden tinsel angel is made of thin metal and is made to be a tree topper. It is a symbol of the Christkind, translated Christ Child. The Christ Child is a Nuremberg tradition. She is a giver of gifts and became a tradition for the market in the early 1930s.

Every year, young women between the ages of 16 and 19 can enter the competition to be the Christmas Market's symbol, Christkind. In this tradition, they open the Christmas Market each year with a speech and also visit the market nearly every afternoon. The ChristKind is popular with children, and every child and some adults wanted their photograph taken with her.

Another area of the square, in front of the Church of Our Lady, is sectioned off and contains the antique nativity scene.

One of the most popular items for sale are Christmas ornaments and Christmas craft items. Some of these are so beautiful but also so fragile as they are made of delicate glass. I loved looking at them, but I am put off buying them because I am afraid that they would not make the journey back in one piece, and if they did, I would be worried that they would break in storage or fall off the Christmas tree.

One tradition is the pickle tree ornament. Each year, the pickle is hidden on the tree. When the child discovers it, he/she will receive a special prize. The size of the pickle varies. For younger children, the pickle is larger so that it is easier for them to find. As the children get older, the pickle becomes smaller and more difficult to find.

The market stalls were covered in ornaments. It was impossible to see all of them. There were so many that I loved.

In addition to the traditional glass ornaments, visitors could buy ornaments that were cookies baked and then painted into Christmas designs. I remember making these types of ornaments when I was younger. 

Food is also popular at the Christmas market. Sausages, candy apples, chocolate, gingerbread, and Christmas cake were all popular. Nuremberg is most known for its special Nuremberg sausage and gingerbread. I had some gingerbread, and it was nice, but it was not the type of gingerbread that I am familiar with. A mulled wine drink is also popular, and this goes well with the gingerbread. Gingerbread, known as lebkuchen, dates from medieval times.

One of the most interesting stalls sold chocolate items that were shaped like tools and other everyday items. At first, I thought that these were antique items because they did look real. However, all items were made from chocolate with a dusting of cocao powder to make them look 'worn' and slightly rusty. Scissors, wrenches, faucets, bottle caps, horseshoes, clothes pegs, cameras, locks, keys, and scissors were some of the items. 

I also had a wander to the Christmas Children's Market, which was extremely popular with school groups of children. A small ferris wheel, carousel, and other games and crafts were available for the children. Children could make their own candles or ice and decorate their own gingerbread. Between the two markets is also a nativity trail with some nativity scenes. A large model train set with a few running trains was also at the far end of the Children's Christmas Market. Each of the market stalls in the Children's Christmas Market had a decoration on top of it. These varied from a family of bears making treats, a family sitting in a Christmas room, snowmen, Santa and reindeer, and a group of bakers.

Snowglobes were a popular item in the Christmas markets.

A couple of stalls also sold a large range of dollhouse items.

The best architectual structure (and oldest) was Frauenkirche, Church of Our Lady. Visitors could listen to church services here, and they had special advent services. Visitors could also climb up part of the way to the balcony to have an elevated view of the Christmas market, and this is the balcony that the Christkind stands on for the opening ceremony of the Christmas Market every year. At noon each day, the clock on Frauenkirche moves and little figures move around the clockface.

I took a few photographs from the balcony of Frauenkirche. The market was not the busiest at this time but the crowds were growing.

Another traditional item to buy at the Nuremberg Christmas Market at the prune men (Zwetschgenmännle). These little men and women are made from prunes and have a walnut head. A few stalls around the Christmas Market were selling these novelty items.

There are many different designs for the prune men, and a few of my photographs are below. They are said to bring happiness and luck.

Springerle is another Nuremberg traditional food. It is an embossed white biscuit design, and it is translated to "little knights". This cookie is from Renaissance times, and it is made with egg white and anise. Some of the deisgns have been coloured, otherwise they are simply embossed. I did try these, and they are a wafer-like biscuit with a slight anise taste. A few of the different designs can be seen below.

Nutcrackers were amongst the popular Christmas crafts.

Around the Christmas area (though not inside the actual market square itself) and main streets were a couple of different buskers dressed as Santa with small, cute dogs. 

Last but not least, a twenty-minute dash around the Christmas Market and streets of Nuremberg is possible in the German post (Deutsche Post) stagecoach. The men driving the horse would blow a horn to signal the approach of the carriage as we were taken around the market, and everyone would stop to look. I felt like a celebrity for those twenty minutes.

Also, if you love postcards and stamps like I do, do not forget to visit the special Christmas market stall for German Post. This is located across the road from the fountain. Tickets for the stagecoach rides mentioned above can be purchased here as well as stamps and postcards. Even if you have written your postcards, stamped or not, you can take your postcards here to receive one of two special Nuremberg German postmark stamps. I went back to this stall several times to receive the special postmarks.

Last but not least, I have put together a list of tips for visiting the Nuremberg Christmas Market. The list below mentions good points and what to avoid.

Tips for Nuremberg Christmas Market:

• Some of the stallholders are dishonest and rude. I gave money for a glass of mulled punch across from the horse stagecoaches, and the stallholder tried to deny I had given her money even after I kept insisting, and she and her boss were extremely rude to me. I eventually got my money, but I had to make a scene by arguing. Make sure that the stallholder has your full and undivided attention throughout the transaction and force them to make eye contact with you.
• Prices vary greatly for the same item and change as the market gets busier. Again, some of the stallholders are dishonest and will charge more. Look around first and note the price. If the price is not on display, ask and then continue to look for the best price. Prices can vary greatly fort he exact same item. Also, as I did visit the market several times, I noticed that the stalls changed their prices during busier times. I saw one stall sell one particular item for 2.50, and this price was raised to 3.50 as the day progressed and market got busier.
• Watch your money and possessions as there are pickpockets. I did not have any trouble, but this was advice given to me.
• Visit in the morning when it's quiet. The evenings and dusk gets extremely busy, and it's not possible to browse when it's too busy. The market opens at 10:00am, but some stalls open a little later, and the market is relatively quiet then.  
• Try new things. Sausage, mulled wine, and gingerbread are a few items to try.
• Get a map of the Christmas Market. A map of all stalls in the main Christmas Market, the Children's Christmas Market, and the International Christmas Market is available in the Tourist Information building on the market square. This is located near the church.
• Look for prune men. The map available from the Tourist Information centre includes locations of the stalls for the prune men separately. 
• Get your special stamps and postmarks. For those sending postcards, visit this stall opposite the fountain and receive a special postmark. Postcards and stamps can also be purchased here.
• See Christkind. She makes an appearance daily at approximately 3:00 in the afternoon on most days. The brochure in the Tourist Information can provide more information as the timing and availability is subject to change.
• Have fun!

Every year, I enjoy browsing the various Christmas window displays around London. I have only included a selection of window displays from the larger department stores: Harrods, Selfridges, Hamley's, John Lewis, and this year I even stopped at Choccywoccydoodah to view their Christmas chocolate display. 

Harrods department store is the probably the most famous and one that springs to mind for those who do not live in London. Their window displays are always fascinating, and their windows had various Christmas themes featuring woodlands. One popular window featured a carousel with unicorns. The most popular window was one featuring Santa in his sleigh with a team of reindeer. This window was extremely popular with children and adults, so it was impossible to get a good photograph of it without someone in the picture and window reflections of people. Check it out if you're in the Knightsbridge area.

Harrods

Selfridges department store on Oxford Street is always one of my favourites to visit. This year, they had a variety of Christmas themes. In one, mannequins modelled lingere and dresses with white paper wolves in a woodland scene. Another showed a golden goose with eggs surrounded by food and wine. Another was a gingerbread house. The largest window on the corner featured jars of marmalade, a golden Hackney cab, and a Paddington statue from the Paddington Trail, which I will be posting photographs of later this month. The Paddington film is out, and Selfridges has a shop dedicated to the bear.

Selfridges

I had a quick browse at the windows at Hamleys toy store on Regent Street, which is always busy and gathers crowds outside. One of the windows was decorated to look like the interior of a house decorated for Christmas with several stuffed toys and a Santa inside. Hamleys is always popular.

Hamleys

John Lewis, who had a popular Christmas advertisement last year with their touching 'Hare and Bear' commercial featuring the song 'Somewhere Only We Know' by Lily Allen (originally by Keane), had a similar response to their Christmas advertisement this year. This year, the commercial featured a little boy and his penguin friend, Monty. The 'Monty the Penguin' commerical was highly anticipated, and after it was broadcast in November, it gave everyone the opportunity to start to think about the holidays. Tom Odell sang 'Real Love', a song that John Lennon had written in the 1970s, and this song is still in the charts. Consequentally, the shop windows of John Lewis feature cute penguins amongst the merchandise. The photographs taken below are of the Peter Jones shop in Sloane Square. The John Lewis on Oxford Street has the same displays.

Peter Jones / John Lewis

John Lewis' 2013 'Hare and Bear'

John Lewis' 2014 'Monty the Penguin'

Choccywoccydoodah is a chocolate shop. It has a shop in Brighton and one in London; the London shop is located off Carnaby Street. The popular chocolate shop also has its own reality television show. The shop always features wonderful chocolate creations, such as the Christmas creations below.

Choccywoccydoodah

I hope that everyone is managing to have a nice holiday season. So far, it has been extremely busy for me and I have struggled to fit in everything that I would like to do before the big day. 

Below are window displays from the past years:

2011 Selfridges

2012 London Christmas lights and window displays

2013 London Christmas window displays

Every Christmas, the area of Hyde Park near Hyde Park Corner tube station is transformed into Winter Wonderland. This tripled in size three years ago to contain new areas, such as a Magical Ice Kingdom and more games and food stalls. Each year, it gets busier and more popular, and I did not go at all last year because I was put off from the crowds the year previously. This year, I decided to go back because it was a few days after the opening of Winter Wonderland for the year and I expected it to be quiet and not popular with crowds of people. I actually went on Thanksgiving, after visiting Christopher's Grill in Covent Garden (Thanksgiving at Christopher's Restaurant in London).

When arriving at Winter Wonderland from Hyde Park Corner tube station, the first area that one passes through is the Christmas Market. 

The usual rides are at Winter Wonderland along with new ones, and the ice skating is also available. There are plenty of games and rides to enjoy, and this year there is the Magical Ice Kingdom (featuring ice sculptures) and a special winter/Christmas edition of Ice Bar.

Food and drink, such as mulled wine, can also be enjoyed.

These are all available in wooden chalets.

There are also plenty of photo opportunities with animal sculptures, but there are not quite as many as previous years when people could pose with snowmen and penquins.

As usual, Winter Wonderland will be popular again this year. To avoid crowds, try to get there early or go during the week. Saturday and Sunday during the day are extremely busy. Transport for London also encourages visitors in peak times to use an alternative tube station as Hyde Park Corner gets congested. Knightsbridge is a short walk away as is Marble Arch.

My beauty box subscription Glossybox arrived on Monday. I was excited about this box as Christmas is coming up in a couple of weeks, so I was really looking forward to the surprises and thought that the box would be a good one. However, I felt disappointed with my box's contents this month and received at least one product that I will never use and have no interest in. The last couple of boxes from Glossybox have been really good for me, but the first the first two were not, so I hope we're not going back to receiving products that aren't right for me. Anyway, on to my reviews.

First of all, I loved the Glossbybox Christmas packaging box design this month. The box also smelled really nice when I opened it. 

Bellapierre lip and cheek stain in coral: This is a full-sized product and it can be used as a blusher and as a lip balm. The shade is a coral pink colour. I tried it on my lips and cheeks, and it's a subtle colour. This is my favourite product in the box.

TRESemme 60 second hair treatment shots: This is a full-sized product, and four "shots" come in the pack. These claim to nourish hair. My hair is in a decent state at the moment, so I'm curious to see how these work with me when my hair is in need.

Anatomicals Day and Night Spot Stick: This full-sized product claims to zap the spots away. I had a couple of spots on their way out, so I had a quick test of the product last night and again this morning. One side is a night cream, and the other is a day cream. The night cream product stings (dries) the spot when used. This product does not seem to dry my skin out or act too aggressively like similar products from other brands, so I will have a proper test of it next time an acne problem arises.

SoSusan Dual Brown Powder: This full-sized product is my least favourite in the box and one that I will never use. I don't draw on my brows and it does not suit my needs. The biggest problem with it is that both shades of powder are brown. My brows are black, and the darker brown is still too light for me to use. I may be able to use them as an eye shadow. Overall, this is disappointing.

SkinPep Wrinkle Clear Peptide Serum: I am not so keen on this type of product either. I do not have any "fine lines or wrinkles" yet. If I did, this is the type of product that would need to be used and monitored over time. Actually, this product threw me off because I expected a cream, and it's actually a liquid, so too much came out. This is a product that I will be putting away for the future because I do not need to use it now.

With four full-zised products, it is a pity that almost half of the products were of no interest to me. What did you get in your December UK 2014 Glossybox, and were you happy?

My previous 2014 UK Glossybox reviews:

• November Glossybox review
• October Glossybox review 
• Glossybox reviews for July, August and September 

This year, the large green red-nosed reindeer statue that has graced Covent Garden at Christmas time over the past several years has been replaced by a new fesitve giant redineer. This one is silver and is mounted on a green sleigh. The reindeer has small holes over its body, and it lights a pale blue colour at dark.

While in Covent Garden, you may also see and pet some real reindeer and visit the LEGO Santa and his team of LEGO reindeer a few yards away (Santa and Lego Reindeer for Christmas in Covent Garden).

What do you think of Covent Garden's new reindeer?