Rounding The Year Off- December 2023 Overview

And just like that December 2023 and a whole other year is over. I had a fab month of festivities, seeing so many people and eating all the yummy food. I do find the start of January is a bit of a weird one as the run up towards Christmas is spread out and then bam it’s all over. But I have a lot to look forward to in the first month of the new year.

I’ve been writing these monthly overview posts for a few years now and I’m thinking of switching it up a bit. I know favourites posts are quite an OG style of blogging, but I’m thinking of doing my own spin on them. I’m thinking favourite books, things I watched, things I bought etc. And then I also talk about my favourite experiences and things I did as well.

So this may or may not be the last post in this format, who knows. But here’s what I got up to in December 2023.

A duo of London days

At the start of the month I had two London centric days.

The first was a mid-week day with my bestie where we started at the Disney 100 Exhibition. The exhibition had some cool items, but it wasn’t particularly big and I think it was quite expensive for what it was. Then we headed to Kings Cross to see the book tree which was spectacular before heading to Camden for some food. There are so many stalls I want to try across the markets but this time I tried:

• UH K- Dogs N Juicy for a Korean corndog,
• Khaao for a cheesy naan melt which was insane, then
• Humble Crumble for their festive chocolate orange custard

The day ended up at Kentish Town Forum to see The Used which was my final live show of 2023.

The next London day was a solo trip planned around the Edward Scissorhands show I had booked. I saw this Matthew Bourne adaption back in 2005 and it was just as magical 18 years later. Earlier in the day I went to a book signing in Forbidden Planet, did some shopping and had yummy sausage and mash dinner. But I don’t think I’ll be going back into London on a weekend in December as it was so busy.

All the pre-Christmas catch ups in December 2023

I was very fortunate to be able to catch up with quite a few friends during the month.

It started off with a night in with some friends where I bought way too much Costco food, but it was such a fun night. There were some meals out, an end-of-year quiz and  all the festive food.

The week before Christmas we hosted ‘Pet Christmas’ at ours that we’ve done for the past few years now. It’s an excuse for my family to come round and help me eat every bit of party food possible. My brother and sister-in-law bring their dog, and all the furry babies get their Christmas presents together.

Then of course Christmas itself was magicial. We spent Christmas Eve with Luke’s family, Christmas Day with mine and Boxing Day just us and the cats. And they’re a few of the best days of the year.

A trio of movies to end the year

We did pretty well going to the cinema during the month. It started off with Wonka near the start of the month which I really enjoyed. They don’t advertise that it’s a musical so I wasn’t expecting as much music as there was. But I’m not mad about it.

Then me and Luke did a double bill between Christmas and New Year. We started off with Aquaman which beat my expectations (albeit they were quite low), and then we saw Next Goal Wins which I really enjoyed. When we saw the trailer it gave me Ted Lasso vibes and it was just a really funny, but also heartwarming movie.

Of course it wouldn’t have been December without re-watches of my favourites; The Holiday, Love Actually and Elf.

Everything else in December 2023

On one of my days of between Christmas and New Year Luke drove me all the way up to Newcastle to get my final tattoo of the year. I’d been following a particular artist for a long time, and knew I wanted a few pieces from her. I got a fairy in a woodland scene sitting on a stack of books on my upper arm which is possibly my favourite tattoo. Then I got a smaller piece from a flash design of a little cat sleeping on a stack of books (notice a theme?!) I was a bit sore by the end of it, but I’m so happy with my new additions.