Every year my neighbours on the main road fill their driveway with Christmas decorations and cover their house with lights. They've done this for a number of years but last night was the first time we were able to go and see the big switch-on.

The owners put in so much time, effort and more importantly their own money, all in order to raise money for the Midlands Air Ambulance. For every pound donated to the cause, an unnamed sponsor matches it, therefore, doubling the donations which is fantastic. The donation box stays up throughout December meaning that even if you can't attend the opening night, you can always support the cause later on; and it's because of this that the couple raise thousands each year.

Not only do they have decorations and lights but they really try and make it special for everybody. For the last couple of years they have had real reindeer for kids to take photos with but sadly they couldn't attend this year. Instead, they had a simulator of an air ambulance, reaffirming the cause we were all donating to. They also grill up some burgers and sausages to keep everybody nicely fed on the cold night. The star of the show was of course Santa Claus who made a special guest appearance. He came and took photos with the kids and talked to them about being good boys and girls and then gave them a little gift each. I had 2 kids come up to me bouncing up and down telling me they'd just met Santa - very cute.

It was such a great night, wrapping up nice and warm and having an excuse to catch up with our neighbours and people from the area. I have attached some photos below of the incredible decorations. (Note the slightly failed panorama thanks to my Dad, haha!)

Until the next post,

Amy x

This blog has been on hiatus WAY too long, but I thought, what better time to kickstart it again than Blogmas! So this first post is going to be a bit about me and what I love about Christmas.

Christmas has always been my favourite holiday and ever since I was little, my family have always made it magical for me and my brother. Even when, *kids look away now!* the big “Santa secret”was revealed, the magic didn't disappear. Now that I'm 25, whilst the excitement has slightly diminished, I love that we are all adults now and can still play games and enjoy more of a conversation.

Spending 12 Christmases in Australia was certainly a different experience. One that we could never quite get used to or allow ourselves to fully embrace. I think when you step away from your home country and experience the polar opposite, you truly miss what you used to take for granted. The most obvious difference was the weather. December is the beginning of summer over there, so temperatures were reaching around 30 degrees on Christmas day - there's no chance you'd wear a Christmas jumper, put it that way! Whilst most people have a roast dinner on Christmas day, my friends would have seafood platters or a BBQ and head down to the beach. We kept to the traditional roast turkey dinner even though none of us wanted to be standing over a hot stove!

The school year is different too so the kids are all off school for 6 weeks. Most people go on holiday during this time so I feel like Christmas day and Boxing day are just shoved out of the way and everybody moves on to what they had planned. There's not much of a build up - due to the constant sunshine and lighter nights - and people definitely don't go overboard with decorations. During our later years over there, the shops started making more of an effort with decorations but still only like the UK was many years ago, not like nowadays. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Christmas in Australia is awful by any means, nor will everyone have the Christmas I'm describing, these are just my opinions having experienced Christmas in both countries and how it was for us as a family.

So the past 2 years we've been living back in the UK, Christmas (and winter in general) has been a bit of a novelty for me. I really do love the cold and I think cold weather and even snow if we're lucky enough to have it, define Christmas time. I absolutely love the decorations; the lights; decorating the tree; the warm winter clothing; seeing real reindeer at the garden centres; the community feel at Christmas; watching Christmas films; the carols; catching up with friends and family; sitting and playing games and so much more.

I'm very excited to continue with Blogmas this year and really make an effort with my blog in the New Year now that I'm entering the marketing world career-wise.

Until the next post,

Amy x