CHRISTMAS 2013 // #XmasSelfies

#1 - Good Morning // Bore Da 

#2 Pigtailed Santa peeling the Vege // Diddorol . . .

#3 Ford Nadolig // Christmas Table 

#4 One of my personal favourites of the day - the Prawn Cocktail Selfie 

#5 'Dolig da ffrindie // xmas with my home boys. 

#6 Hendrix pondering over the meaning of life // Hendrix yn myfyrio gwir ystyr bywyd! 

#7 Wâc Nadolig // Xmas Walk

 #8 Tired Lisa. Wearing my first ever onsie // Wedi blino'n lân

#9 I should be ashamed of this nest/dreadlock that developed in my hair over Christmas and Boxing day but I am strangely very proud of it, although it was extremely painful to brush out! // Gwallt 'Dolig. 

CHRISTMAS 2013 // JOHNNY CASH, XMAS CAROLS & CHAMPAGNE BREAKFASTS

I love Christmas, I think I have grown to love it even more after being away for most of the year at uni because you know that Christmas means home time :) I like the carols that are sung, the films that are watched and the excuse to just lie on the sofa for most of the day guilt free. The Thomas household Christmas is relatively relaxed with only the four of us (+ Hendrix) spending the day together with my Mam-gu popping in to have some lunch. I'm not a big fan of being confined in a space filled with people so a small family suits me well. Christmas eve is all about the preparation, the wrapping and champagne breakfasts with friends while Xmas day is all about the present opening, film watching, dog walking, christmas dinner eating and of course the birth of Jesus. 

I always wake up early on Christmas morning much to the annoyance of my brother. This year I woke up at half 7 but held out from waking everyone up until 9am when I started to sing Christmas carols (O Deuwch Ffuddloniaid // Oh come All Ye Faithful) for all to here. After much grumbling and eye rubbing my brother and I opened our stocking while my mum laid in bed and my dad came home from work. Muesli, croissants, champagne and toast were on the menu for breakfast and after the veg was chopped and everyone was showered and ready we ventured in to the living room where our bigger presents were waiting. With the cheesy/ cringeworthy Johnny Cash 1976 Christmas Special programme playing in the background I opened my prezies and I received an awesome leather bag from Foley & Agamo, a Lancôme beauty set, Dr. Martens (1460 Boot), my first ever onesie, CD's, books, my staple Miss Dior perfume and many other wonderful gifts. 

Before the pigs in blankets could have time to digest, myself and my mam headed off on a little walk with Hendrix just to get some fresh air while my brother washed up. Upon our return we watched the end of Toy Story 3, watched Despicable Me 2 in 3D (well, I had a nap through the majority of it), caught the end of Homealone 2 and laughed at the Mrs. Brown's boys and Father Ted xmas specials before heading off to bed. B-E-A-UTIFUL day. :) 

Here are some of my favourite gifts I received from Santa and family. Thanks // Diolch :) 

CARDIFF - BACK TO THE MOTHERLAND

On Friday morning I headed back to the Motherland! My family were going down to Cardiff for the weekend so I grabbed a train and almost three hours later I was in the capital. The family weren't arriving until later that day so I spent the day with Nicola who is in uni there. I got off the train and in to the main bit of the station and who is the first person I see . . . . Colin Charvis (ex-Wales rugby player!) and of course who was standing right next to him . . . Nicola! Neither of us had been to Cardiff Bay in a while so off we went. I really like the bay, it's a newly regenerated part of the city and it's just a nice chillaxed place with some cool architecture - Millenium Centre & Senedd. Also that is where the BBC Cymru/Wales studios are and the Doctor Who Experience centre.

We grabbed some Nando's (of course!) for lunch and it probably has one of the best Nando's views ever  - looking right over the water. An actor from Casualty was sitting right next to us also (thanks to Nicola for pointing this out!) We had a roam around the bay for a while, had a coffee and then headed back to central. I rushed to the house (where we were staying), changed and was out the door again as we were going out for a meal in a restraunt called Oscars. The food was really good - I had the pate for starters, the awesome duck for main and the panna cotta for pudding. Yuuuuuuum :)

The next day was Six Nations day. Wales were facing Italy in Rome so we headed in to town to watch it in a bar off Westgate Street. Before that though, Dad wanted some new clothes so we walked around Howells for ageeeeeees but at least I got to go to the bike shop that they have there! I wanted to pop in to the Vans shop just to have a look. They had the awesome bags that I want which have straps in the front where you can pop your board in - that would be so handy. They also had some cool longboards! I saw a pair of shoes that I liked and my daddy bought them for me ;) Yaaaay :)

We won the rugby match! Wooohooo! It was so cold in Cardiff that we decided to head home after the match so we caught the bus back. Mam & Owen went back in to Central because they were going to watch 'Australian Pink Floyd'. Me and my dad however stayed at home and watched some Saturday night TV! 

I headed home Sunday afternoon after a scrumptious brunch in Brava (which is in Pontcanna). Chorizo, Scrambled egg & pepper burrito - what more do you need?! :)

I love Cardiff.

 I thought this wall memorial was serious but when we got closer we could see that it was for a fictional character called Ianto from the Torchwood series! There are some crazy people out there!

 Millenium Centre

 Cowbridge Lemonade cocktail from Oscars. - Delish.

Watching the rugby - which screen should we watch!?

YUUUUM YUUUUM YUUUM = awesome :)

 

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SKATEBOARDS, BOOKS & SOCKS

Yes, it's christmas in the Thomas household. This year we had a very relaxed day without much fuss at all (just 5 of us and Hendrix). I woke up about an hour later this year than previous years (8am) had a shower and changed before anyone else had gotten out of bed. To continue with tradition I headed into Owen's room and we opened our stockings. In the stocking we get smaller gifts such as socks, mugs, puzzles and some jewellery. We then took our stockings into our parents' room and showed them what we got from Santa (yes, we are 21 and 18 years old)!

Once everyone was ready we had croissants and bucks fizz for breakfast. With only crumbs left on our plate we ventured in to the living room where Santa leaves the bigger presents. I received gifts including a Radley bag, Henry Holland jumper, Miss Dior perfume and a Great Gatsby poster. The best gift however, was the awesome Penny Skateboard that Santa brought. It's a blue 'Nickel' board with red wheels and white trucks. I have not gone a day without being on the board for at least two hours! Yesterday I went for my first proper outing on the penny (proper - meaning not going back and forth down the hall way!). It was a three mile ride and it was completely awesome. Living in West Wales it's very hard to find a place that is flat and even if flat it's hard to find a place that is properly concreted and not filled with potholes or chippings. So most of the journey was downhill which was scary, fun, scary & exhilarating all at the same time! I love this gift.

One of my other favourite gift was the Blog Inc. book I received which is written by Joy Deangdeelert Cho of Oh Joy! It's a must for any aspiring blogger or for an existing blogger who wants to know how to improve their blog both aesthetically and contextually. I haven't put it down since I opened it Christmas morning. Along with this book I opened many travel books which are just teasing me at the moment until I finish university in three years then they'll (hopefully) be my bible as I travel around the world :)

I hope you had a very merry christmas :)

p.s you might have noticed the new name and design of this blog. I thought it needed a change not only to celebrate almost a year of blogging but also to make it look cleaner and sharp. The name I changed so it'll be easier for people to find. I've lost count at how many times I've had to repeat my old blog name to people as they have no idea what I've just said and then I had to spell it out for them. Hopefully this new look & name will be easier for all of us (: Hope you like it! 

PICTURE POST: CHRISTMAS TIME

For the last couple of days I've been going around the house taking snapshots of our Christmas.

Merry Christmas
Nadolig Llawen :)