And so we find ourselves on the final day of the year and ready to ring in 2025 at midnight. This year has been beyond brilliant and I hope you guys have enjoyed coming along with me for the best bits of 2024 through my vlogs here on YouTube.
In this second instalment of Vlogmas, festivities are in full swing as I host friends for a wine & cheese night, enjoy more cosy date nights with my boyfriend, and help my parents prepare to host the family for Christmas Day.
Expect all the indulgent food and drinks, lots of cute winter outfits and not forgetting when we see my dad playing Santa in the local town for charity!
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too and I can’t wait to share another adventure filled year ahead on YouTube, starting with an epic trip to Bali and my big 30th birthday in January.
With just over a week to go until Christmas Day, silly season is well and truly in full swing! Last week I had two Christmas parties in London with work, so I thought I’d share with you what we got up to and how we got into the jolly festive spirit.
Last Tuesday was our member’s Christmas Social event at Hijingo Bingo in Shoreditch. We chose this activity as something different and immersive to mix up the usual networking format.
Starting at 11:30am, guests enjoyed drinks in the bar until they were ushered through the illuminated tunnel and seated in the main room for bingo.
Unlike typical bingo, there are dancers and a ‘bot’ who introduces each game and explains the rules as well as the prizes up for grabs. From a holiday for two or up to £500 cash, the prizes were very desirable and got everyone enthusiastic to play the games.
After the first few games there was a break for food served in the main room. This was a selection of festive inspired bites including pigs in blankets with a miso maple glaze, and turkey roulade with a cranberry puree.
The second round of games commenced before the event concluded at 2:30pm. Short but sweet, the bingo games were great fun and we had fantastic feedback from our guests who really enjoyed the afternoon.
I’d highly recommend Hijingo Bingo as a venue not just for the fun and immersive bingo experience, but also for the brilliant management team who were very well organised, super friendly and worked hard to deliver our event seamlessly – https://www.hijingo.com
Moving onto our second festive party of the week, on Thursday we went back to Shoreditch for our staff party at an escape room followed by a dinner. We met at BOXPARK beforehand and enjoyed some street food for lunch, as well as a few drinks to kick off celebrations.
At 2:30pm we were booked for our session at the escape rooms at which point we split into our teams and were assigned our rooms. My team’s room had the theme of time travel and our mission was to travel back in time to Paris to locate the weapon used for a murder. We all got very into the story and enjoyed the challenge of solving the mystery as a team.
Our dinner reservation at 5pm was for a pasta restaurant called Noci in Shoreditch. To start I had the endive salad with grapes, walnuts and a pistachio dressing which although was a generous portion for an entree, was still the perfect light bite to begin the meal.
My pasta of choice for the main course was strozzapreti with tomato, taggiasca olives, fried aubergine and a vegan cream cheese on top. The pasta was deliciously fresh, the sauce was very tasty and everything was served nice and hot.
For dessert I had the plant-based chocolate mousse with olive oil, sea salt and toasted almonds, a gorgeously rich and chocolatey note to finish on – https://nocirestaurant.co.uk
The night continued on at another bar in Shoreditch where the drinks continued to flow and we had a very merry time indeed. Needless to say, we know how to live up to the fun and games of silly season!
And just like that, another year of Christmas celebrations is over and we find ourselves in that peculiar space of time between Christmas and New Year’s. After a marathon weekend of festivities, I’m embracing these few days to reset, enjoy some time to myself and regain normality with my usual routine including working out and cooking wholesome healthy meals for myself.
This year we were delighted to be spending Christmas Day at my brother and his wife’s gorgeous newly renovated house in Bromley. Whilst I love a Christmas at our family home hosted by my parents, these days they tend to find the pressures of this time of year a lot of stress, so having that weight off their shoulders this year was a blessing.
It has been a long awaited Christmas at the Bigwood-Nieuwenhys residence, so with the renovation of their home finally complete, it was a pleasure to be hosted by my brother and his wife in the beautiful surroundings of their wonderful new abode. They were fabulous hosts and pulled off the day seamlessly with no fuss, what a dream-team!
With the King’s speech over, the table laid and the Christmas tunes in full swing, I assisted my sister-in-law with the starter to be served at 4pm.
We were treated to an exquisite prawn cocktail starter made with crunchy gem lettuce leaves, cucumber, tomatoes, avocado, fresh prawns and a homemade thousand island dressing garnished with a sprinkling of paprika.
Served in aesthetic cocktail glasses complete with the freshest prawns from the local fishmonger, this was the perfect light starter before our roast dinner feast.
My brother did a fantastic job of the deliciously succulent turkey meat accompanied by all the veggies including crispy roast potatoes, brussel sprouts, carrots, cinnamon infused red cabbage, and the star of the show, his homemade cauliflower cheese; indulgence at it’s finest.
Following our incredible meal which we finished at about 5pm, drinks continued flowing and we moved onto playing the fun Christmas games. Every year we play the classics like charades, the sticky note game and trivia, but our favourite Nieuwenhuys original is ‘Tap the Crack’. Basically we go around the table and each person has to tap a Christmas song or carol with their cracker for everyone else to guess and it never fails to have us in fits of laughter!
Later in the evening we served dessert of a Christmas pudding, a chocolate yule log and a cheeseboard. It always gets to this point on Christmas Day when as much as I love something sweet or a cheeseboard to finish, I really can’t fit much more in following the roast dinner. So here’s a photo of a cheeseboard spread I made on Christmas Eve complete with truffle flavoured parma ham, cranberry Wensleydale cheese and my favourite element, the pickled onions.
Having stayed up watching Love Actually until 1am, Boxing Day morning we took it slow and went for a walk at midday. We were then off to my Auntie and Uncle’s in Southsea to spend the afternoon and evening with wider family. I wore this new Cider grey knit middy dress with matching bolero sleeves, accessorised with plenty of gold jewellery and my new square toe perspex mules which were a gift from my mum.
Everyone was pretty knackered from all the festivities of the weekend passed, so it was a nice chilled affair catching up with family including their adorable dog Dolly, and enjoying leftover Christmas food with salads and more cheese of course!
We were also thrilled at my sister’s announcement that she and her partner are expecting a baby! What a wonderful way to conclude our Christmas weekend with news of the next generation on its way in the New Year.
Congratulation sis, can’t wait to meet the little one in 2023 ❤
Merry Christmas! I was so happy to be reunited with my family this year and celebrations were in full swing for the occasion. Me and my boyfriend began the day with present opening by the tree for the first Christmas morning in our gorgeous new home.
I then got dressed up and ready for the festivities in my little green peter pan dress from Topshop, sheer tights, long boots and a cute new beret from Urban Outfitters.
Family celebrations were kicking off at midday over at my parent’s house. Champagne popped, Christmas songs playing and we were ready for the starter of marinated figs, rocket, mozzarella, parma ham and a honey mustard dressing – exquisite!
It was so great to be in the company of my brother and his wife on Christmas Day following last year’s scuppered plans due to Covid. Thankfully this year we all tested negative and could even have my wonderful Grandma join us for the day too.
Everyone was busy in the kitchen helping with preparations for the big roast dinner, whilst my Dad was mostly outside seeing to his pride and joy for the day, the BBQ turkey! An unconventional method of cooking the bird on a winter’s day in England, but I have to admit it does result in the most succulent meat.
Our late lunch/early dinner was served at 4:30pm and as usual my mum dished up an absolute feast. I just love all the delicious vegetable accompaniments with a roast, my favourite being the red cabbage, honey roasted carrots and not forgetting the brussel sprouts. My brother even did a homemade cauliflower cheese which was divine and stole the show this year!
With bellies full and very satisfied indeed, we sat around the table playing games before more present opening by the tree. I received some fantastic gifts and really enjoyed giving our presents this year too. My mum always pulls some little surprises out of the bag also, and this year she didn’t disappoint with a beautiful 60s style vintage handbag and coffee table book Fashion In Film which I’m obsessed with.
I do feel incredibly blessed and grateful our family could be altogether this year. It was the perfect day full of fun, laughter and love surrounded by the stars of my life.
Cheers to health, happiness and a very Merry Christmas ❤
Dani Aneka 