Santa Special at Llangollen Railway

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Christmas is a very special time for us and we have many traditions that we do each year. As a family we like to visit Disneyland Paris and Santa's Sleepover at Alton Towers. My Mum and Dad enjoy taking the boys to the grotto and then on to a pantomime in the evening. My in-laws go on the Santa Special - Llangollen Railway. It's so nice that we each do something with the boys that makes Christmas that little bit more special. All these traditions have been every year for at least 11 years. This year we decided to go on the Santa Special too and I'm so glad we did.

It took about 1hr 15 minutes to arrive at Llangollen from Liverpool and when we arrived there were plenty of car parks to choose from. We parked about a 5 minute walk from the railway and it only cost £1 which was great.

We had something to drink at a local cafe/ restaurant before the train although there was plenty of choice in the station itself. There was a small cafe and also sandwiches to buy on the platform.

Our train left the station at approx 1:35pm. The carriages had christmas decorations hanging from the windows and felt nice and christmassy on board. We hadn't been before so had no idea what to expect. There were 12 of us in total spread out on 3 tables in the same carriage. 

Once we were seated and the train was on it's way to the station at Carrog we were given a paper bag each. Now I say we, what I actually mean was everyone except me. They had run out so unfortunately at this point I had nothing. In the bags there was a chocolate lollipop for the kids and a carton of juice. The adults had a mince pie and a small 50ml of Baileys. The booking did say mulled wine but that was not offered.

Very soon an elf appeared in the carriage and got us all to sing a Christmas song as we did Father Christmas made his way to see us. 

I was so impressed that he stopped to talk to all the children and gave each and everyone a gift. 

When we arrived at Carrog, Father Christmas hopped off the train and on to his sleigh. We queued to get a photo with him.

There is a little gift shop and a chance to grab a hot cuppa and a snack if you wish before its back on the train to Llangollen.

When we got back on the train Father Christmas made another appearance. He sat next to little J and chatted about Christmas. This really does make the train so special because the children get to see Father Christmas at least three times.

Both John and I really enjoyed the Santa Train and obviously so did the boys. It was nice to experience a tradition that big J had enjoyed for so long. 

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Michelle

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Thomas & Friends Personalised Christmas Book Review

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Disclosure - We were sent the product below for the purpose of this post. All thoughts, opinions and photographs are our unless stated. 

I have mentioned before that I love personalised gift. I always find that personalisation adds 'that little bit more' to a gift idea. When I was younger I had a Snow White book and I was in it. My name, date of birth, friends etc had all been added to create a story. I loved that book so much and I still have it somewhere. When we were offered the chance to review a Thomas & Friends personalised book from Egmont I knew straight away that little J would love it. He loves books and starring in one makes it so much more fun.

Ordering was simple. We chose the book we wanted and added little J's name. We could also add a friend so decided to add big J. There is also an option to customise the character. We could change the hair, skin and eye colour to match little J. Finally you can change the colour of the coat. We chose blue.

Although little J looks at books throughout the day at home and nursery, books are usually for bedtime. This book is a perfect bedtime story. It's just the right length to be enjoyed before little J starts losing interest. Usually once we have finished our bedtime story he will usually choose a book to look at before falling asleep. The illustrations in the book are bold, colourful and interesting so lovely to look at too.

Personalised books are always great fun and I find the child is always more engaged when they are the centre of the story. We will definitely be adding to our personalised book collection from Egmont very soon. I love the birthday book too.

If you would like to order the Thomas and Friends Christmas title use discount code pblogger20 for a 20% discount.

Michelle

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Pampers Want To Help Make Life #BetterForBaby

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Today, our friends at Pampers released a short film which showcases just how babies bring out the best in us all, highlighting that there’s nothing we wouldn’t do to make life #BetterForBaby - if you haven’t seen it, you can watch it here 

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Christmas At Liverpool ONE

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We are so lucky to have Liverpool ONE so close to where we live. For years we had to venture further afield for shopping trips and meals out. Since Liverpool ONE arrived we have everything we could ask for. Now you can drop the kids off at school and you can get everything you need and more before you have to pick them up again. Here's how we recently went Christmas Shopping at Liverpool ONE. 

Liverpool ONE Christmas Tree 2015

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5 Gift Ideas For All Food Lovers

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One of the best ideas when looking for inspiration for picking gifts is the recipients hobbies. Today I am going to take some time and share five great gift ideas for those people who love cooking, baking and food in general. As Christmas is the time to show that you love someone, this list of five gift ideas is a great place to start the joys of gift shopping.

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UNO Extreme Review

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You may already know that we love board and card games. This time of the year we usually buy a few new ones to keep us entertained through the cold winter nights. This week we have been playing UNO Extreme by Mattel. We already love UNO and have done since big J was little. His first ever UNO was Winnie the Pooh, I think we still have it somewhere.

The idea of UNO Extreme is basically an Extreme version of the popular game. The game features a card shooter which adds some more excitement to the original game and also is very unpredictable too.

Playing the game is very similar to the original although there are a few new cards. Three special Extreme hit command cards change game play from the original UNO game. 

Discard all allows players to play all cards that match the card’s colour

 Hit 2 forces the next player to hit the UNO Extreme Card Launcher button not once, but twice.

The Extreme Hit card lets the player hit any player they want by aiming the shooter at them and pressing the UNO Extreme Card Launcher button twice.

If you have to press the launcher you may get lucky and nothing happens or it could shoot out a stream of UNO Cards.

*****

What We Loved

The launcher does provide excitement and makes the game more fun. When you hit it and no cards shoot out you do feel quite proud of yourself even though it's random.

When another player hits the launcher and lots of cards shoot out.

The actual card game hasn't changed to much.

What Could Improve

The launcher needs 3 x C Batteries. These are not included and we didn't have any so we did have to make a special trip to buy some. Worth remembering if buying as a Christmas present.

*****

Currently the RRP is £24.99 which is reasonable and I think it would make a perfect present for an UNO fan. It is available from High Street Stores and also online at Amazon

I am always a little unsure of new versions of games I already love as sometimes they seem pointless, however this is fun, fast and exciting and we love it.

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PNP - Portable North Pole

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Technology has moved on so fast over the past 13 years. When big J was younger he would write his Christmas list for Father Christmas and he would send it off with hope that he would get a reply. Sometimes he did get a reply but other times Father Christmas may have been to busy. Now it seems Father Christmas can reach all the boys and girls via PNP - Portable North Pole and not only can he send the boys and girls a nice personalised video he can also ring them on the telephone too.

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Young Driver Lesson Review

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You may already know that last year big J drove a car for the very first time at the age of 12 years old. I had so many tweets and messages from readers who were so happy that I had posted about big J's Young Driver lesson as they had no idea that it existed. I had seen adverts in the Trafford Centre but I had no idea we had a training site so close to home until he had his first lesson. It's even better now that we have two really close by.

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