The month that was: December 2017

What happened:
We were in Cuba until the 10th, which meant Christmas was very close when we got back to London. In Cuba we did lots more relaxing at our resort and also explored Havana, before returning to a blizzard. (Gah!) The weather was excellent in Cuba - the hottest it got was 32°C - and we only had one bad day when we were stuck in the room all day. I'm sharing my full Cuban adventures on the blog soon, so keep an eye out for them.

When we got back to London it was all about getting ready for Christmas - we hosted a Christmas curry evening with Olly's siblings the weekend before, and then my parents arrived to spend Christmas with us. It was lovely to spend Christmas at home - eating all the delicious food, watching films, playing board games - and I now appreciate how much work goes into making an awesome Christmas dinner! Ours was definitely the best Christmas dinner I've ever had. Yum!

In-between my parents leaving and New Year's Eve we had friends come to stay at ours, and then we headed to Kent to see in the New Year with Olly's sister, her husband, and some friends. It was a very busy, and social, end to the year, but isn't that what December is all about?

What I ate:
I ate beautiful Cuban food in Habana 61, awesome steak at Flat Iron, a much-needed burger at Byron, and epic pizza (again) at the Northcote Road branch of Made in Italy. And, of course, the above mentioned Christmas dinner. We picked up our Herb Fed turkey from Dugard & Daughters (they're in Herne Hill and Earlsfield), and it was the best turkey I've ever had. (I was never really a fan of turkey before this Christmas!)

What I watched:
TV-wise we finished watching Blue Planet II, continued watching Dave Gorman: Modern Life is Goodish, and started watching the second season of Designated Survivor and The Grand Tour. We also watched lots of Christmas telly, including Ratburger and Olaf's Frozen Adventure.

Films watched: Going in Style, My Cousin Rachel, Back to the Future, Junior, Collateral Beauty, The Great Wall, Home Alone, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Moana, Zootropolis, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Bridget Jones' Baby, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Beauty and the Beast, Hidden Figures, Jurassic World, Office Christmas Party, High School Musical and The LEGO Batman Movie. IMDB Top 50 films watched: Raiders of the Lost Ark (38) and The Matrix (18).

At the cinema we saw: Star Wars: The Last Jedi (not as good as The Force Awakens, but there was a lot to take in so I need to see it again to make my mind up properly), Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (good fun) and Pitch Perfect 3 (ridiculous plot, but fairly amusing).

What I read:
In December I read 16 books, and abandoned reading three books. My favourite reads of the month were (4* rated): Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky, The Chateau of Happily-Ever-Afters by Jaimie Admans, When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon, Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton and A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond.

Hope you had a wonderful 2017, and (a belated) Happy New Year! x