church Archives - Megan Taylor

Happy Christmas Eve eve everyone. I can’t believe it’s Christmas Eve tomorrow, I’m so excited.
Half of my family are Italian so Christmas Eve is a pretty big deal for me along with Christmas Day of course.
Here are a few traditions that my family, friends and I have that make me feel wonderfully festive.

1. Christingle Service
I adore going to the local church for the Christingle service.
My friends and I have been going since we were little.
We are probably a bit old to be going now as it is a service aimed at the kiddies but
we make our own christingles and take them along to sing all the best carols.

2. Christmas Eve Party
Every Christmas Eve my parents host the best party of the season.
All our neighbours come by and drink cocktails and eat lots of food until midnight.
We always manage to fit in a game of charades…and sometime the bell ringing carol game.
If you don’t have this game you simply have to buy it for next year.

3. Bedtime Story
Every Christmas Eve my hubby reads me a bedtime story of a Christmas book of my choice.
If I haven’t drifted off into a festive slumber we watch The Snowman or Polar Express with a sleep timer on our TV.

4. Early Risers
Every year since I was little my brother and I would come running into each others bedrooms at about 5am. Now that I don’t live at home and we have aged a little my brother texts me at about 7am then comes running round to my house to check out what presents I have got before helping Liam and I cart our goods over to our parents house.

5. Stockings
Father Christmas still pops by my parents house for me, so as soon as I get to my parents house I open my stocking and give my parents their stockings that I organise for them.

6. Church
Everyone in my parents street goes to the Christmas church service.
Literally the whole village walks to church together. It is a short and sweet family service full of festive loveliness.

7. Bubbles
Once we get back from church my dad and brother have glasses of fizz waiting for us and breakfast cooked.
We then sit down to open all of our tree presents.

8. The Hunger Games
A whole load more of my family arrive at about 12 and we open more presents and drink even more fizz.
We then wait for lunch/tea/dinner to be ready.
The moment the roast dinner hits the table we are all silent. Half an hour later we are happy bloated balls.

Eeeeeek just writing this I am practically giddy. Soooo exciting.
What are your traditions?
I want to wish you all a wonderful Christmas and I hope you all have the most magical time xXx

Last weekend a group of us went to Hamburg to get in the festive spirit.
I have always wanted to go somewhere like Germany to experience the Christmas markets and Hamburg definitely lived up to my expectations.

Where we stayed: Radisson Blu, Hamburg
Where we ate dinner: Hans Im Glueck
Where we ate brunch: Alex Pavillion
Where we ran: Alster Lake

The weather was appropriately cold and I dutifully wore five layers of clothes.
As a vegetarian I really struggled to find food I liked yet I guess this was to be expected in Germany.
The sweet treats were however scrumptious.

Top Christmas Markets In Hamburg:
1. Winterwald
This was my favourite market as there were far less tourists.
Hidden in the back streets you really felt as if you had stumbled across a hidden gem.
We sat and drunk Glug spiked with Rum in the Christmas tree garden.
The only problem was that we didn’t find this market until half an hour before we had to leave for the airport.

2. City Hall Market
This is the biggest and most popular Christmas market in Hamburg, sitting outside the Town Hall.
I would strongly advise only going to this market in the daytime and during the week not at the weekend.
We went on Friday afternoon and it was lovely and quiet but on the Saturday evening you could barely move.
There is a Christmas decoration shop at the far end of the market which is well worth queuing to go in.
The shop is filled with millions of decorations and twinkly lights. Decoration range from €1 to €100s.
Top Tip: Make sure you see Father Christmas fly over the market everyday at 4pm, 6pm and 8pm.

What I wore:{Roll Neck Body: Topshop}
Everyone needs the black funnel neck body from Topshop.
It was a great base layer to keep me warm and stop and chilly breeze sneaking up my top.
It makes any outfit look a little more sophisticated.

{Scarf: Zara (similar) . Coat: Zara (similar) . Jeans: Topshop .
Boots: Vagabond . Gloves: Marks and Spencer}

{Roll neck Jumper: Zara (similar)}
I bought this roll neck knit jumper from Zara a few years ago. It is huge and incredibly warm.

{Hauptkirche St. Petri, Hamburg}
I love going to churches in foreign countries and lighting a candle for lost loved ones.
This church had an incredible candle display where you melted an area to stick your candle to.

{Neuer Wall, Hamburg}
A street lined with very expensive shops and decorated impeccably.
{Hat: Zara}

My hubby wore:
{Shirt: Gap . Jumper: French Connection (similar)}