Cuisine & Culture the Chinese Family Way
Choo! Choo! All aboard this magical Hornby Santa’s Express festive train to the most magical place! This Christmas, Mr C has been treated with this awesome train set. Owning a Hornby train set has always been his childhood dream and so he was so pleased when he saw this set. Both children were ecstatic too!
Drayton Manor, home of Europe’s only Thomas Land™ has officially opened its popular magical winter wonderland Christmas event with fireworks! Following Thomas Land’s £2.5 million expansion in the spring, this year’s Magical Christmas promises to be bigger and better than ever, with over 25 rides and attractions to enjoy, such as new arrivals Flynn the Fire Engine and Captain’s Sea Adventure.
Last week, I baked a chocolate cake, cut out cylinder shapes and made icing. Unfortunately, my icing was too runny and it ruined all my mini cupcakes! So I had no choice but to cheat as my guests were due to arrive. I bought the ready-made vanilla icing and a packet of cupcakes! So if you ever ruin your Christmas party snacks or need a quick Christmas recipe to impress your relatives and friends, look no further! This is very simple Santa Hat cupcake and won’t take you too long at all. You will need a piping star nozzle and piping bag for this.
Freixenet, the UK’s leading sparkling wine brand have been inviting the nation to celebrate the #LittleThings in Life. So they invited a few bloggers to join in and document the moments that give us that secret ‘yes’ feeling. Whether it’s grabbing the last Frozen toys, managing to save your toast from burning or finding the last car park space in an event! They are all worth celebrating!
Drayton Manor Theme Park is just ‘a stones throw away’ for us. Living so close to the park, we have become quite a regular visitor! We have seen so much many changes and improvements over the years which keeps us going back again and again.
Living so close to Birmingham, we have visited Cadbury World a couple of times before. There is always something interesting to do there, new features and experiences and not forgetting the delicious chocolate to devour! It is not just a chocolate factory tour – they have something for everyone to do there, big or small. My children particularly like the Cadabra ride, plus the new 4D cinema experience and there are a lot of outdoor facilities like the African Adventure Play Area and table tennis.
Last week, we were invited to visit the Blithbury Reindeer Lodge. Even though it was raining cats and dogs, my children and I had such a wonderful magical time there, which is home to over 150 reindeer who roam freely across the beautiful 30-acre site.
It is located in the small hamlet of Blithbury, on the outskirts of Rugeley. I had used my sat nav to help me to get to the place, but in the end, it took me away from Blithbury. Luckily after driving around, I found the pub car park (The Bull & Spectacles) which is next to the lodge. The lodge’s green sign is not very visible at dusk, so if you travel there during the daytime, you should be able to spot it more quickly.
The children were very excited as they knew that they are going to meet Santa and get a lot of presents from him. This was our third time going to Chasewater Railway Santa Special with friends. I am always excited to show my children about train heritage. Mr K loves train and loves to build his wooden train track all around his room.
Santa Special is always very busy during this time and luckily, we had pre-booked our tickets a while ago. After we met our friends there, we all went inside the carriage to be seated. All the children were not impressed with the old dank smell in the carriage but I thought this provided quite an authentic feel! The whole train trip was about 20 minutes, up the track and then back down. We were able go out the carriage to watch them swap the engine over from the front of the train to back of the train before hopping back inside to continue back to the start.
It was 3 years ago that we found Portable North Pole, by word of mouth through a friend. Since then, we’ve created a video for Mr K each year. I will always create a naughty list video 3 weeks before Christmas to warn him to be good and only then will he be moved to the good list. It has been a few weeks and he has been asking if he has moved on to the good list. He knows that Santa is not real but he still believes in his magic and that he will get his presents if he has been good.
There are only 6 shopping weeks left before Christmas! Have you started your shopping yet or is it going to be a last minute dash? How about get your children into the mood by being Santa’s little elf and helping him? PNP Santa Sprint app has been released by the makers of Portable North Pole. In this game, you are a little elf helping Santa to prepare for Christmas and you unlock exclusive video story tales featuring Santa Claus himself upon completing levels.
Ho! Ho! Ho! It’s Christmas Eve and Santa needs to make sure all the presents are delivered on time, and to the right addresses. In this game, you are Santa and you don’t have any elves to help you! When I first read the instructions, it looked so complicated as there are so many rules to remember! After playing for the second time though, it is in fact quite easy.
