Merry Christmas 2025

Winter wardrobe is here

I actually got to keep my clothes on today so I can now official kick off my festive season by demonstrating how I've gotten into the spirit with the return of my winter wardrobe.

And, in hindsight, it turned out for the best because look at this.... snow! Much more fitting for my first Christmas outfit post of the year than a tropical beach.

Happy Holidays!

Crimbo Party Time

A Christmas Party really should be impossible to get wrong. You literally don't need even the slightest bit of imagination. Just lean on the tired and trusted festive tropes that you will know will serve us all well.

So when I arrived to the sight of 20 dancers strutting their stuff to generic EDM, my heart sang. Really, how hard is it to book some DJs who will actually play something with a Christmas flavour? It's just fucking deja vu from one community party to the next. And I know that I'm not the only one who is sick but here we are having to talk about it for the umpteenth time. 

OK, that's my negativity out of the way. I hope...

On the flip, my calls for a kissing booth with mistletoe were finally listened to so that was a definite plus point. And yes, I did try it out! As soon as I pointed it out to Emmy, she marched me there for some tonsil action. 

It was pretty dreamy but I had to cut our time in the booth short as a queue was starting to develop and I know that we could have easily hogged the place for the whole evening if we weren't being considerate towards others. Instead we found a nice quiet bench to make out on until Jess and Father Christmas showed up for some sexy photo ops.

Of course, it wasn't the really Santa. Just Oliver Cream dressing up as him once again. OK, that can be another plus point for the event for a nice bit of guest engagement. 

And, actually, there was a nice little selection of places to stop and pose for some quick snaps or just hang out. Various little cabins for food and drink, gifts and souvenirs or just to straight up fuck in if you were feeling horny.

Or you could venture up into the hills if you felt obliged to pay a visit to church or just wanted to find some slightly more secluded chalet for, you know, fucking in.

Ok, so now that I've warmed up to it, apart from the shitty music and ridiculously sized dance team as the focal point of the Crimbo arena, it was actually pretty nice. Very festive feeling except for probably the easiest part to get right.

And, what's more, they even had a second chance to play so festive jingles for us to dance to. Obviously, the complaints of the last few events being over-populated and an absolute nightmare had been heard, as they opened up a second arena this time to allow guests to be spread between two locations instead of just one.

It actually did a very good job of combatting the overcrowding problem, although it did make the event feel a little less unifying for the whole community. On balance though, I'd say it was worthwhile doing. It's just a shame that the second location also played the same shitty EDM as the first one we visited. Apart from that though, I'd say that the second location did a better job than the first.

Like I said before, the first impression of the first location was pretty negative but that wasn't the case with the second location. Well, apart from the same shit coming from the speakers. But the dance team situation was much more under control and tasteful at location 2 and it just felt a lot more about guests having a fun time instead of grandstanding from the organisers to make the biggest impression possible, regardless of whether it was a good one or not.

I mean, I got to sit on Santa's lap (and boy was he big!), snuggle up to the Grinch, hang out with a snowman and chillax with a cute penguin.

At the end of the day, whilst both locations looked stunning and there were some thing to do at both places, ultimately the thing that makes these things truly enjoyable and, on this front, this event came up trumps for me.

In Jess, I had my usual event buddy back. She brought Chris with her, who I did my best to entice into some pics with the Jess, Emmy and I but he was having known of it because apparently people only want to see cute girls. I did manage to snap him dancing with Jess but its a shame we couldn't get a nice team photo of all of us together. 

Add Perrie's banter into the mix and that's a fun little pose to party with. And, as a bonus, my elusive husband even showed up and joined us. I was starting to worry that he'd been sucked into a blackhole after note seeing him for months. 

So yeah, it turned into a really fun evening but more so because of the company I had than anything else. And I think I'll leave it there on that positive note.

Rosy's Winter Pub

To be honest, I've been feeling pretty burned out recently. I think I put so much energy into preparing my music and all that went a long with that for release, that I've let the tank run empty. Which means I've been really struggling for motivation for the last couple of weeks. Motivation to get out there and explore all the Christmas themed events that are going on and motivation to prepare all the holiday content that I normally pump out around this time of year.

Today though, I really tried to push myself to get out there and experience some of this year's festivities. To my disappointment though, there was not one Christmas market or fair to be found. Has the bubble burst on those? Is there no longer any demand for the unique flavour of Crimbo that they provide?

I don't know... So, instead, I had to seek some Christmas cheer elsewhere. And the most festive and cheerful place I could find was Rosy's Pub; a place I've heard and seen a lot about but have only managed to make a fleeting visit to in the past.

This time though, I managed to settle in and spend the evening relaxing and chatting there. I even got to sit on Jolly St. Nick's lap. Although, I really had no idea what to ask for for Christmas this year. Hopefully a nice surprise!

Anyway, hopefully I can squeeze in a few more festive outings before the big day, even if I am going to be a little up against it on account of being away for the next few days. We'll just have to see what happens. Fingers crossed though!

Seasonal thanks

Merry Christmas everyone!

Hope you all have a wonderful festive season.

With love and hugs, Laura xx

A Merry Surprise

I found it hard to believe that there wasn't going to be some sort of official Christmas party for the whole community to join in with but I had been starting to wonder when we managed to reach the day before Christmas Eve and there was still nothing announced.

Then, finally. we got an announcement that afternoon that the party would be held that very evening. Talk about last minute! I suppose that's why it was called the "Merry Christmas Surprise Party", although, As I've already alluded to, the only real surprise was how late they left it to spring the "surprise".

And, presumably as a consequence of that, it wasn't as well attended as previous mega events. Still a very healthy attendance, which created a nice festive atmosphere, but there was actually room to move for once.

That said, lots of friendly faces were missing. That's the risk you run when you leave an announcement so late though. With only a few hours notice, many folk will already have made plans, especially at this time of the year when everyone has so many things that they need to cram in over the festive period.

Regardless, I still got to hang out with a few friends and had the chance to meet a few new people that I follow on Twitter (still not calling it X) but have new previously had the opportunity to meet in person. Annoyingly, I forgot to get selfies with any of them which was a big faux pas on my part.

There were also a few other random people that tried to talk to me while I was a bit overwhelmed trying to talk to multiple people at once. I'm not one of those people that can talk to like a dozen people at the same time. I have to focus on just a few people at the same time. So apologies to anyone that I couldn't engage with due to already being spread too thin.

Sadly, no sign of community celebs Gizmo or Lisa this time. At least not during the 3 or 4 hours that I was there for. It probably goes without saying that our elusive Community Manager was also a no show but I suppose that is about par for the course at this point. But, like the Murphy's, I'm not bitter...

To be fair, and I don't mean this with any disrespect to those that help put on the event, it didn't feel like there had been the usual level of organisation for this one. I mean, I'm not sure there was a designated photographer for this one which would be a first. Usually there is somewhere for guests to pose for photographs, with Santa for previous Crimbo parties.

The entertainment also seemed to be scaled back from previous parties. For instance, it looked like there were just 2 dance teams on duty this time, which must be an all-time low. Not necessarily a bad thing though. 

The event location was stunning as always though. You can't beat holding a festive party on top of a snow-covered mountain. But, despite the epic surroundings, the arena itself actually felt a bit more intimate that many of the previous ones which have tended to be a bit to expansive, leaving lots of empty areas. This one felt just right in terms of size.

Actually, my only complaint about the arena was that the organisers still refuse to listen to my yearly pleas for there to be some mistletoes for guests to snog under. Every year I say how much of a no-brainer it is but there's never any acknowledgement of that. I'm not going to hold my breathe on this changing for next year either. I can live in hold though...

As for my night out, it was a pretty uneventful evening. Upon arrival I had a little walk round to checkout all the stalls and displays. I got pictures with most of those. I was also gifted a picture by the wonderfully talented Mintie, who I have been following on Twitter recently. If you haven't checked out her posts yet, you really should.

I may also have stuffed my face with a donut , whilst I was wondering round the arena. Hopefully I didn't ruin too many pics by being covered in crumbs. I imagine there will be a few that need binning though. Once I'd circumnavigated the arena once and finished devouring my sweet treat, it was time for a drink break so I found a nice (relatively) quiet spot out the back for a little sit and drink. 

By the time I'd finished that, a few friends had started to turn up so it was time to head for a boogie on the dancefloor, which is where I spent pretty much the rest of the evening. Mostly shaking my botty with Ember, who, as you can see in my pics, must have been absolutely freezing in her outfit, or should I say lack there of. Apparently, her Christmas hat is magical and keeps her warm. Not sure I really believe that though.

On that topic though, there were lots of wonderful Crimbo outfits being worn by guests. Some of them not leaving too much more to the imagination than Ember's, while other's were a bit more family-friendly. All of them carrying a very strong red, white and green theme which created a wonderful synergy between all of the outfits regardless of how revealing they may be.

Oh, and just like last yeah, Oliver Cream was dressed as Santa Claus. Don't think it was in an official capacity this time but he still took the time to let so guests sit on his lap and ask for something nice for Christmas. 

And I think that's about it really so all I have left to say is Merry Christmas everyone!