And the bells were ringing out.

God Jul!

We've unwrapped all of our presents and been around all of my siblings so now I just have to survive the family Christmas dinner O.o

I haven't been feeling particularly festive but last night, literally the whole village was out at the pub to celebrate Christmas Eve (as is tradition) and I saw EVERYONE from school. It was nice to catch up and its weird how even those you weren't really friends with still run up to talk to you. We stayed out past midnight to count in Christmas and then I went home and watched Black Christmas cause it was on TV and you can't beat a good bit of Yuletide horror.

Hope everyone has a great day today! I always prefer Boxing Day because it isn't regimented and I'm not forced around a table with every family member ... and you get to play with your presents :p ... but today is good too I guess ;)

Merry Christmas everyone!

O Tannenbaum.

As per usual, I was forced to put the tree up and put lights in every window. Its nice when its all done but the process is soul destroying O.o My thumbs are now completely numb from contending with drawing pins too.

Oh and yes our Christmas tree is black .... we're total trendsetters.... or just morbid, I'm not sure.

So yeah, other than that, I'm home and loving it. I like all the free food and the silence - yeah I'm a brat ;)

R.I.P Greg.

I've been running around like a crazy person this week trying to hand-in all of my end of term work so that I can go home for Christmas on Sunday. I've spent the most of my week in the library, the newsrooms and at home with piles of books ... fun O.o

I did however pluck up the courage to finally eat Gregory today:























Yes. I name my lobsters. What of it?

Admittedly, there wasn't too much meat on this one but he did make a tasty lobster salad.

I had to lie about how I got it to my Dad though .... he'll stop sending me money if he realises I'm a pretentious-food buying student :p

Weihnachtsmarkt 2008.

I'm sorry to anyone that uses an rss reader to view blogs cause I've more than likely just spammed their page with photos. Don't blame me though, blame Blogspot and their stupid lack of a cut feature like Livejournal has.

It is the Lincoln Christmas Market this weekend. It started on Thursday and is going to run through until Sunday but we decided to go on Thursday night in hope that it would be less busy (the fools we are). Apparently, it is the largest Christmas market in Europe, has 200 stalls from all over Europe and makes about £10,000,000 a year for the city ..... can't you tell I just researched it for my last journalism portfolio ha?

It is set in the cathedral/castle grounds and brings such a nice atmosphere - as well as hordes of tourists but I guess we'll let that slide. Everyone is dressed as Victorians and there are mulled wine sellers, hot spiced cider, scandinavian decorations, cheese, pork pies ... you name it.

Photos ensue (though it was practically impossible to take any due to the crowds and some crazy Russian who thought I was going to steal her doll designs):

The high street leading up to it

Entrance to the castle

Lolz Rudolph

Lauren and a creepy Father Christmas ..

Beer stall

The crown court

Spiced cider...

PORK PIES!! Mmmmmm ;)

Ostrich burgers ... which were far better than beef tbh

Ferris wheel

Merry-go-round

Cathedral (it looked stunning lit-up)

annnndddd we made eggnog afterwards yay!

I'm going to have to go back on Sunday at some point to get a few stocking fillers for Dad but I'm not looking forward to it. I'm not good with people O.o

White is in the Winter night.

It has been snowing like crazy on and off for the past couple of weeks here and it is really starting to annoy me. We always got some snow AFTER Christmas back home but just enough to look nice and not anger you when it turned to slush but up here in the North, there is SO much of the stuff and so early too. I can't remember it being as cold as this at this time of year for years; it was -5 degrees (celsius) this morning and I've not known that to happen this early in December before. January is for the freezing cold and snow damnit! Weird world.

We're rapidly entering the festive season. I opened the first door on my advent calendar on Monday - its Milky Bar for those that were wondering what I did seeing as I don't like chocolate. When I was younger, my parents used to get me an advent calendar with dog treats inside so that I could still have the fun of the countdown without having to eat chocolate ha. Oh well, at least someone benefitted.

I must admit, the atmosphere seems a lot more Christmassy when living with others. My housemates are literally weeing themselves over the prospect of Christmas and have already planned a Christmas dinner for all of us before we leave. My friends back home have planned one too .... I'm not sure how much turkey I can stomach to be honest. Luckily, I think Nan is cooking pheasant again this year so I won't have to endure three lots.

Also, its a fact that most people here have never tried proper eggnog (shock, I know) but I LOVE the stuff so I'm going to make some and force them to drink it. It is kind of ironic because it is thought that eggnog first originated in the Fens of East Anglia which is where I live. Most Brits just tend to drink Advocaat at Christmas instead I guess? :/

The Lincoln Christmas Market arrives tomorrow though! I am so excited. Everyone is coming to ours for mulled wine first and then we are going up to the market in the evening. Its the largest in Europe and it is held in the grounds of the castle and cathedral - it is stunningly beautiful and I shall be taking lots and lots of photos. Most stalls come from Scandinavia, Germany and France and they sell all kinds of European Christmas food, decorations and gifts. I just hate how busy it gets each year.

I love summer but every now and again, winter captures my heart :p

Cliche and predictable internet survey.

Everyone I follow is posting this tonight so you know what I'm like with bandwagons *jumpson* :)

1. What’s your name?
Wayne

2. What is your favorite thing to wear?
Shirts with a jumper over the top or tank tops etc ... smart/casual shiz.

3. Last thing you ate?
Cheesy Chips .. mmmm...

4. One place you will NEVER eat at?
KFC

5. I say Shotgun, you say:
Get lost, I'm sitting in the front

6. Last person you hugged?
My friend Amy, we went out for her birthday tonight

7. Does anyone you know wanna date you?
Its kind of complicated :/

8. Would you date anyone you met online?
Yeah, providing we met and stuff obviously ... I couldn't carry out the whole thing online.

9. Name something you like physically about yourself:
Cheekbones/jaw I guess

10. The last place you went out to dinner to?
Dry dock in Leeds when I went up to see Hannah at the weekend :)

11. Who is your best friend?
There are too many people that I classify as 'best' friends *beingdiplomatic* haha.

12. What time of the day is it?
5:00am

13. Who/What made you angry today?
Trying to get ready to go out in literally 10mins... it isn't possible.

14. Baseball or Football?
Football ... provided it means soccer?

15. Ever gone skinny dipping?
Nope

16. Favorite type of Food?
Traditional stew with dumplings!!! LOVE it!

17. Favorite holiday:
Christmas but Halloween is a close second.

18. Do you download music:
Yup

19. Do you care if your socks are dirty?
Urm ... not until I take them off :p

20. Opinion of Chinese symbol tattoos?
I don't like tattoos full stop.

21. Would you date the person that posted this?
That would be like everyone on my blog roll.

22. Has anyone ever sang or played for you personally?
Not personally no ... but I do it to people all the time ha :p

23. Do you love anyone?
In what way? ;)

24. Are colored contact lenses sexy?
They certainly aren't, no.

25. Have you ever bungee jumped?
Nope, but its one of those things I kind of want to do.

26. Have you ever gone white-water rafting?
Yeah, years ago ... so maybe I should go again for full benefit?

27. Has anyone ten years older than you ever hit on you?
The creepy peeps in clubs ... urgh.

27. How many pets do you have?
My dog Stella and a few fish.

29. Have you met a real redneck?
Can't say I have

30. How is the weather right now?
EXTREMELY COLD! Its snowing too.

31. What are you listening to right now?
Silence

32. What is your current favorite song?
Random I know but Katherine McPhee's Over it. It was on a youtube video I watched and I liked it haha.

33. What was the last movie you watched?
Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium.

34. Do you wear contacts?
No

35. Where was the last place you went besides your house?
Chicago Rock

36. What are you afraid of?
Never finding someone I really like.

37. How many piercings have you had?
None... again, not a fan.

38. What piercings do you want?
See above

39. What’s one thing you’ve learned this year?
That I am far more tolerant than I think I am and that if I use my confidence, I can get more than I thought I could.

40. What do you usually order from Starbucks?
Chai tea latte!!

41. What Magazines are you reading?
I don't really read magazines other than the ones that come in the Mail on Sunday .... but I do like GQ.

42. Have you ever fired a gun:
Yeah, when we used to go on the Boxing day hunts and stuff.

43. Are you missing someone?
Always.

44. Favourite TV show?
NEIGHBOURS!! Hands down ... oh and X-factor and Big Brother when its on.

45. Do you have an obession with WoW?
I played it once but got bored ... story of my life.

47. Has anyone said you look like a celebrity?
I've occasionally had Mark Wahlberg (from photos).

47. What celeb do you look like?
Well I don't think I look like him

48. Who would you like to see right now?
All of my bezzies from back home ... and maybe my Dad :p

49. Favorite movie of all time?
Titanic with maybe Donnie Darko a close second.

50. Do you find yourself loved?
My friends are amazing :D

51. Have you ever been caught doing something you weren’t suppose to?
Lolz .. such as?

52. Favorite smell?
Jeye's fluid, not sure if you know what it is outside of the UK but google it. I'm weird I know... OH and I like the smell of nail varnish remover haha.

53. Butter, plain, or salted popcorn?
Salted.

54. What’s something that really bugs you?
Creepy people that are like over 50 in clubs. Its just wrong.

55. Do you like Michael Jackson?
Not really no. The only song I like is Billie Jean.

56. Taco Bell or Burger King?
Not sure what Taco Bell is really so I have to say Burger King.

57. What’s your favorite perfume?
Ralph Lauren silver or anything Paul Smith

58. Favorite baseball team?
We don't have baseball, the only team I know is the yankees :p

59. Ever call a 1-900 phone number?
Dunno what it is.

60. What’s the longest time you’ve gone without sleep?
About 2 days .. yeah

61. Last time you went bowling?
Urmmmm. Argh, must be ages ago cause I can't remember. We used to go all the time back home cause it is the only thing to do there.

62. Where is the weirdest place you have slept?
In the snow on Boxing Day night at 3am, under the town Christmas lights.

63. Who was your last phone call?
To Gemma about meeting tonight.

64. Last time you were at work?
Ewww I haven't 'worked' since July 2007.

64. What is the closest orange object near you?
Train ticket