Bookmas 2021

Merry Bookmas Day 24 – 24th December – Family Traditions

Happy Thursday bookish people! Merry Bookmas day 24. Oh my goodness, it’s Christmas eve. I literally feel like a little girl again, all buzzing with excitement. I really love Christmas, it’s such a magical time of year in my opinion. And I have some very specific family traditions. Do you have any family traditions for Christmas? I’d love to read about them in the comments.

First off, my Sister’s birthday is on the 23rd December. She hates it because it’s so close to Christmas and everyone around her is getting excited and prepared for that instead of her birthday. We always have a meal on her birthday with just her, me, our Mum and Dad and Grandma. This year is a little different because her partner and his daughter and his parents will also be there so lots of people.

On Christmas Eve we go to the Pantomime. It started years ago because I could never get to sleep on Christmas eve so we started going to the Pantomime in the evening so that it would tire me out. Which it did. Now we still go because we love it, I do especially and it has become an important family tradition.

Then Christmas Day. Get up in the morning and once everyone is awake we can open the presents. We eat biscuits for breakfast and have a nice time. Then for lunch we usually head to Grandma’s house for a roast dinner and pulling crackers. My Grandad would gather up all the terrible jokes and read them out at random points throughout the day. Then we would start the game.

A few days before Christmas we would use a bingo machine to put all 14 of us into pairs and work out which pair would be playing against which pair for the yearly Uckers tournament. If you don’t know what uckers is, it’s like Ludo but in pairs, It’s quite a complicated game really. We are a very competitive family and this game takes all afternoon and late into the evening. My Grandad even made us a trophy and medal for the finalists. It is always a busy but great day. In 2019 my grandad died and for the past few years we haven’t done the tournament because it’s strange without him but maybe in the next few years we will get back to playing it.

So, that’s my family traditions for Christmas day and the few days before it, I hope you enjoyed reading about it!

Bookmas 2021

Merry Bookmas Day 22 – 22nd December – Christmas Films I Enjoy

Happy Wednesday bookish people! Merry Bookmas day 22! Today I wanted to share some of my favourite films to watch during the Festive period. Some of them are films I have loved for years and some are new favourites…

How The Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)

How the Grinch Stole Christmas - Rotten Tomatoes

This is probably my favourite Christmas film ever, and definitely one of my favourite films all together. I pretty much know this film off by heart and I find it so heartwarming and filled with Christmas spirit. It makes me feel happy and excited for Christmas when I watch it.

Love Actually

Love Actually (2003) - IMDb

I’ve loved this film since the first time I watched it, quite a few years ago now. There are some parts which I think were not necessary and some creepy moments but for the most part I love it. The overall message of the film is about love, that it is everywhere and it comes from so many different places and people and I love that this is the message.

The Christmas Chronicles

The Christmas Chronicles (2018) - IMDb

This is a Netflix film and I watched it with my Mum. I enjoyed how it focused on a brother and sister coming together to save Christmas and they fix their relationship while doing so. It was cute and wholesome and there were some funny moments which I loved.

Home Alone

Home Alone - Rotten Tomatoes

This is a new love. My partner was so shocked that I had never seen Home Alone that about three weeks ago he finally got me to watch it and now I know why so many people talk about this film because I thought it was great.

That’s it for this post, I hope you all enjoyed it! What are some of your favourite Christmas films.

Bookmas 2021

Merry Bookmas Day 19 – 19th December – Bookshelf Tour

Happy Sunday bookish people! Merry Bookmas day 19! I hope you are all having a good December so far. Today’s post as you can see by the title is a bookshelf tour. This is something I have never done before but I love to watch on Youtube. Mainly because I am nosy and I love seeing what books other people have. In preparation for this I have taken the best photos I can of all my books that I have at my house (I have about three room length shelves full of books still at my Parent’s house) and then I also tried to video them. So, I am going to try and upload the videos here and hope it works, if it doesn’t, let me know in the comments and I will upload the photos instead.

So that is the tour of my bookshelves, well one bookshelf and one bed with paperback books lined up.. but there are so many books I am looking forward to reading!

I hope you all enjoyed it!

Bookmas 2021

Merry Bookmas Day 18th – 18th December – bookish Naughty or Nice Tag

Happy Saturday bookish people! Merry Bookmas day 18! Today I’m bringing you another book tag. I love doing these and sharing my answers with all of you. So, today’s book tag is the Bookish Naughty or Nice tag which I found on Jenniely.com.

What you have to do for this tag is go down the list and say if you have or haven’t done whatever it says then at the end you count up how many things you have done and if you are under 10 then you are on the nice list and if you are over 10 you end up on the naughty list.

  • Received an arc and not reviewed it – Yes, I have done this. I received a copy of Red Wolf from harper Voyager and I haven’t gotten around to reading and reviewing it yet and I feel bad about it but if I forced myself then I wouldn’t make a very good review of it anyway.
  • Have less than a 60% feedback rating on Netgalley – Yes, I only recently started on Netgalley and I haven’t gotten used to it all yet so my feedback rating is low at the moment.
  • Rated a book on Goodreads and promised a full review was to come on your blog and never did – no, I haven’t done this. If I say there is a review on my blog then there is a review on my blog.
  • Folded down a page of a book – No, I definitely have not done this.
  • Accidentally spilled on a book – I haven’t spilled anything on a book before but I have dropped a book in the bath before, it was a book about the Titanic which is so ironic.
  • DNF a book this year – yes I have done this with a few books.
  • Bought a book because it was pretty – all the time, I am a sucker for a beautiful book.
  • Read whilst you were meant to be doing something else – Oh definitely, this sounds like me.
  • Skim read a book – No, I read each page properly but I do read very fast.
  • Completely missed your Goodreads goal – No, I actually completed my goal of reading 100 books in 2021 which I am very happy about.
  • Borrowed a book from a library and not returned it – No, I always returned the books I borrowed from the library.
  • Broke a book buying ban – yes. Many times.
  • Started a review and forgotten about it – No, I always finish them in one sitting.
  • Wrote in a book you were reading – Nope, I’ve never done this.
  • Finished a book and not added it to Goodreads – No, I always make sure that I add them to my goodreads.
  • Borrowed and book from a friend and not returned it – I couldn’t do this to a friend.
  • Dodged someone asking to borrow a book – No, I don’t think so.
  • Broke the spine of someone else’s book – not somebody else’s no.
  • Took the jacket off a book and damaged it – no, definitely not.
  • Sat on a book accidentally – No, I haven’t but this one made me laugh at the thought.

So, I got 6/20 which means I’m on the Nice list! Thank goodness.

Are you on the naughty or nice list?

Bookmas 2021

Merry Bookmas Day 17 – 17th December – Bookmas Trees

Happy Friday bookish people! Merry Bookmas Day 17!

Last year, and this year, I saw a lot of photos of people making trees out of books. Not ripping up the books of course, or anything like that but piling books on top of each other to make the shape of Christmas trees. I really liked them so for today’s post I thought I would see if I could find any this year and I would put them here to show you all. And just to say I found all these images doing a google search of ‘bookmas trees’.

How to Build a Bookmas Tree (With Commentary by Fisher) | Smart Bitches,  Trashy Books
https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2018/12/how-to-build-a-bookmas-tree-with-commentary-by-fisher/
https://klkranes.com/2016/12/07/how-to-make-a-book-mas-tree-part-2-the-secret-to-success/
Guess How Many Books are in the Bookmas Tree Survey
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2015bookmas
image
https://ireadyabooks.tumblr.com/post/168929469948/rockin-around-the-i-read-ya-bookmas-tree

These are some of my favourites that I have seen, I hope you all enjoyed looking at these few trees as well. Have you ever tried to make a bookmas tree?

Bookmas 2021

Merry Bookmas day 16 – 16th December – Books on my Christmas Wishlist

Happy Thursday bookish people! Merry Bookmas day 16! One of the best things about Christmas is that I get some of the books that I have wanted for a while. My family asks for my list in like September so then I can’t buy any of the books that I have mentioned or written on a list before that and it feels great after Christmas because then I can buy books again. Anyway, I thought I’d share some of the books I have asked for this year and I’ll also share with you my Amazon wishlist here which has all the books that I want but didn’t tell my family about:

On my Christmas list I have: https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/3H1PW8BGD9KF7?ref_=wl_share

From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L Armentrout

From Blood and Ash (Blood And Ash Series Book 1) eBook : Armentrout,  Jennifer L.: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

Any of the Robin Hobb Books

All Robin Hobb books colllection, finally ! : r/robinhobb

The Murder Most Unladylike series by Robin Stevens

Murder Most Unladylike Pack x 9 - Scholastic Shop

The Scarlet and Ivy Series by Sophie Cleverly

The Lost Twin: Book 1 (Scarlet and Ivy) : Cleverly, Sophie: Amazon.co.uk:  Books

These are the four series’ of books that I have put on my Christmas list and I really want to get the From Blood and Ash and Robin Hobb series and if I don’t get them I will probably buy them immediately after Christmas.

What books are you hoping for?

Bookmas 2021

Merry Bookmas Day 15 – 15th December – Things I’m Looking Forward To In 2022

Happy Wednesday everyone! Merry Bookmas day 15! I wanted to be a little personal today and share a few things that I’m looking forward to in 2022. There are so many things that, if they go ahead, are going to give me great memories and help me spend time with my family and friends and I thought it would be nice to share a few of them with you today.

First up is a trip to the Theatre to see Les Miserables and there is a touch tour included. This probably sounds like such a small thing to be looking forward to but 2021 has been difficult health wise. There have been some scary moments for many different things but the one thing that is always the worst of it all is my eyes. I remember saying to my Mum the other day – I wake up every day knowing that day is going to be difficult from the moment I open my eyes because I can’t see the way most people can and I never like to focus on that. I always like to try and be as positive as I can about it, only a few people have seen some of my deeper emotions about it, because dwelling on it won’t help me. I now can only see colours in my left eye and this happened very suddenly and I only have about a metre of sight in my right eye. Doing things every day is challenging but I don’t like showing that and I hate asking for help so to be able to have a touch tour for my favourite Theatre show is going to be really special for me.

The second thing I am looking forward to is finishing my first year of my PhD. I get a little bit of imposter syndrome when I’ve been on each of my degrees and my PhD is just the same and I think looking forward to the end of the first year and taking it in milestones is going to help remind me how hard I’ve worked to get my degrees and that I actually deserve to be where I am.

I am also looking forward to turning 23 and spending my birthday hopefully doing something nice with the people I love.

Something else I am looking forward to is reading more books outside of my favourite genre. As I have shown to myself in 2021 there are many books outside of my preferred genres that I will actually love.

And finally I want to make more time for myself. I spend hours of the day focusing on everything I have to do, I have daily lists to check off and sometimes that gets a bit overwhelming because I am juggling all these different things all the time and on top of that there is cleaning the house, dishes, food shopping etc.. I can’t always balance it and I kind of do it all just because I can’t say no to other people.

Okay, so that’s my top five things I am looking forward to in 2022. What are you looking forward to next year?

Bookmas 2021

Merry Bookmas Day 10 – 10th December – Bookish gifts

Happy Friday bookish people! And merry Bookmas day 10! Today I wanted to focus on some great gifts for book lovers. I don’t know about everyone else but my Christmas wishlist is a collection of books and book themed items – mostly pin badges from Etsy and t-shirts from Etsy and Redbubble. So, I thought it would be a nice idea to put together a small list of bookish gifts.

Something that I have seen around a lot recently is an item called a ‘book nook’. There are many different styles and designs that you can get.

The two above are two different styles that I found on Amazon, the second one is a Medieval themed one. Book Nooks are wooden boxes/books that are made to look like a small street or alley way and they contain doors, windows, various scenery that would match the theme. Some of them open out like the first example I have included and some stay closed like the second example. Most of them come unpainted and with the pieces to build it yourself which I think is something that makes this different from any other type of gift.

Book Log Journals are always a useful gift for a book lover. Not only are they available in multiple, pretty designs but they help keep track of what books have been read and the thoughts you have about them. Some examples:

Other great gifts for readers include….

Mugs!

Book Lover Mug Gift, Bookish Gifts, Librarian Mug, Bookworm Mug, Yes I Really Do Need All These Books

Signs!

T-Shirts!

That’s it for this post, I hope you all enjoyed seeing just a few bookish gift ideas! What bookish gifts do you want to receive this year?

Bookmas 2021

Merry Bookmas Day 9 – 9th December – Which Book Should I Read Over Christmas Quiz!

Happy Thursday bookish people! Merry bookmas day 9. I always love a good quiz, especially around Christmas time so I thought why not combine my love of Christmas, books and quizzes all in one. I will say I did not create this quiz, I found it on readingthroughinfinity.com.

So, let’s get on with the quiz!

Which genre is your go to? A. Fantasy, B. Historical, C. Contemporary/Romance, D. Thriller/Mystery, E. Sci-fi

What do you look forward to most over Christmas? A. Snow, B. Giving/receiving presents, C. Spending time with family, D. Decorating, E. Watching films

Pick a Winter Wonderland:
A –

A Short History of ... "Winter Wonderland" - JAZZIZ Magazine

B –

Annie Lennox 'Winter Wonderland ' - YouTube

C –

Winter Wonderland Boxed Christmas Cards | Redlin Art Center

D –

winter wonderland theme

E –

merry christmas photo backdrop snowflake photography background winter –  dreamybackdrop
  1. What is your favourite Christmas food? A. Mince pies, B. Stollen/Yule log, C. Christmas Cake, D. Roast Dinner, E. Christmas Pudding

    Pick a Christmas jumper:
    A –
ASVP Shop Adults' Unisex Christmas Jumper with Christmas Lights Design and  Pom Pom Baubles - ASVP Shop

B –

Red Fairisle Penguin Christmas Jumper | Women | George at ASDA

C –

Buy Navy Gonk Scene Christmas Jumper from the Next UK online shop

D –

Tips For Reusing Your Christmas Jumpers | Primark Christmas | Primark UK

E –

Green Santa Knitted Christmas Jumper | Kids | George at ASDA


  1. What would you ask for as a present? A. Books, B. An experience day, C. Clothes, D. something else, E. Game

    Choose a decoration? A. Tinsel, B. Baubles, C. Mistletoe, D. Wreaths, E. Lights

If you got:

Mostly As: Caraval by Stephanie Garber

Mostly Bs: Three Sisters Three Queens by Philippa Gregory

Mostly Cs: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Mostly Ds: And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

Mostly Es: Winters Orbit by Everina Maxwell

That’s it for this quiz, what book did you get?

Uncategorized

My plans for Bookmas/Blogmas 2021

Happy Friday bookish people! I hope you are all doing well. Today’s post is more of an information dump than what I usually post. I wanted to let you all know about what my plans are for this blog in December – and yes, I have given myself a lot of work to do because I plan to post every day in December. I’ve already started making and scheduling the posts so I won’t have to be stressed every day in December about whether or not I can make the posts in time, so as long as technology works as it should there will be a post from me every day. Fingers crossed.

I am going to list here what is currently the plan to be posted each day!

  1. My December TBR
  2. Bookish Advent Calendars – ones I saw on Etsy that looked interesting
  3. Fun christmas bookish trivia – a quiz!
  4. A collection of Night Before Christmas parodies
  5. The best drinks to curl up with in winter – including some recipes
  6. The Christmas Stocking Book Tag
  7. The best books of 2021 – I love looking at these so I had to include my own
  8. Cosy books to read at Christmas
  9. Which book should I read over Christmas? – another quiz!
  10. Bookish Christmas gifts
  11. Books that surprised me this year
  12. The Christmas song book tag
  13. The best and worst books of each month in 2021
  14. Books I wish I had got to this year
  15. Goals and things I’m looking forward to in 2021
  16. Books on my Christmas wishlist
  17. Bookmas trees
  18. Bookish naughty or nice tag
  19. Bookshelf tour – I am still debating if I should just take pictures or if I should try and video it, what do you think?
  20. Bookish Christmas quiz – yes another one!
  21. Christmas cuisine book tag
  22. Christmas films I reccomend
  23. Books with a Christmas theme
  24. Christmas Family traditions
  25. Book Characters Who I’d love to spend Christmas with
  26. Winter book tag
  27. 2022 most anticipated books
  28. The jingle bell book tag
  29. End of year book tag
  30. My book of the year for 2021
  31. My stats for 2021

So, that’s what my December posts are going to look like! Are you excited for them? What post are you most looking forward to seeing on my blog?