Friend: Should you go to Winterville?

I bloody love Christmas. (Sorry if you've read Loner. Lover. Friend before or know me at all and find that blatantly obvious). My boyfriend said the other day that my Christmas spirit is probably the worst thing about me, that I have so much yuletide joy it is exhausting and suffocating. Every Christmas I have a list of all the things I want to do to help me enjoy the season - to go and see the nutcracker, to go ice skating, to watch a whole list of Christmas films, to go to Rules restaurant, to eat every lunch place's version of "the Christmas sandwich", to wear velvet somewhere and drunkenly dance to Mariah Carey "All I want for Christmas", the list goes on.

Therefore it might surprise you that I've actually never been to Winter Wonderland, London's Christmas spectacular that takes place every December. Now I like the hustle and bustle of Christmas as much as the next person (my Dad and I go to Tesco's every Christmas eve just for the atmosphere) but the number of people who get off the tube at the stop for Winter Wonderland overwhelms me. I've had to queue to get out of stations, queue to get into stations and let 11 full tubes pass before I get on one in the worst of London's rush hour, but I don't think I've heard the tube driver warn you about getting off because of congestion in the station, apart from for Winter Wonderland. So that congestion must be really bloomin bad.

And then along comes Winterville, east London's answer to Winter Wonderland apparently. Does this mean crowds of tourists eating bratwursts and sipping over priced mulled wine will be replaced with clusters of hipsters drinking craft beer and eating ceviche? Well sort of. There is both a ceviche pop up, and a Brewdog craft beer stand, but rest assured there are still plenty of bratwursts and over priced mulled wine on offer. Whilst there certainly is an amount of new east end about the joint - Voodoo rays, smoked beef brisket, the trendy "Bar Humbug" and so cheesy it is wonderful "hot breath karaoke", there is a fair chunk of traditional Christmas, in the shape of a santa's grotto and an ice rink, and a little bit of traditional east end, in the shape of the fairground which I'm told is much bigger and better than Winter Wonderland's.

Bar Humbug was by the far the busiest spot when I visited

And yet Winterville hasn't been getting rave reviews, and I can sort of see why. There is a little bit of "grass is greener" syndrome in that whilst Winter Wonderland is too busy for my liking, Winterville is a little too empty. You don't have to queue for rides or for the bar, which is great, but it means it all feels a little eerie, walking around a quiet fairground in the dark with Christmas songs blasting out.

Having said that, last Thursday night, which I spent at Winterville, I did have a bloomin amazing time. The lack of bar queue meant that I drunk copious amounts of red wine. I ate a sausage with cheese in the middle of it. I had an almost out of body experience in hot breath karaoke watching the presenter in lycra silver and a slightly geekish looking boy sing a duet of "rhythm is a dancefloor" at the top of their voices to an empty room, it was so hilarious. And I went on loads of rides. I laughed, I screamed, I felt all nostalgic, I thought I might be sick, I felt all Christmassy all over - what more could you want from a Christmas outing?

Hotel of terror is actually scarier after your third glass of wine...

This cruel photo of me and Katy eating cheese filled hotdogs is by Bessie Jewels

On the crazy mouse

So how much will it cost you? Winterville is free to get into, so I guess it just depends how much you do when you get there. I spent around £30 and that was enough to keep me slightly tipsy and occupied from when I got there at 7:30ish til when it closed just after 10. Find out more about Winterville, by visiting their website.

Do you love Christmas? Then maybe check out my post "Loner: 12 things you can do to get yourself feeling all Christmassy and warm inside"

Lover: Rules Restaurant - the most Christmassy place in the world

I first found Rules - aka the most Christmassy place in the world - when I was 18. My old school friends and I were treating ourselves to a pre-ice- skating burger at GBK in Covent Garden and were drawn to Rules restaurant across the road, like a Father Christmas to his ninth mince pie. The window looked like all my Christmas dreams had thrown up on it (in a great way): fir and baubles and fairy lights lined the massive windows which were decorated with huge wreaths in the middle. Little Christmas trees stood by the entrance which was guarded by a man wearing a flippin top hat, which I realise isn't technically Christmassy, but made you feel a little more like you had just stumbled into A Christmas Carol, but for real.

We hopped over, and asked whether there was anywhere we could get a drink. The restaurant was teeming, a meal was a significant proportion of our student loans, and we were full of our "satay beef" burgers, but the lovely topped hat man led us up the stairs, to a little bar, where we took a seat next to a roaring fire, and took in the massive whif of fir. A man in a bow tie asked us what we wanted to drink, and we ordered one bottle of wine between the 8 of us (it isn't that ridonculousy expensive, but we were poor students who were used to paying £1.40 for a snakebite, oh those were the days).

Ever since, I've gone back to Rules every year, sometimes more than once, visiting the bar for a cocktail or two (now I am a London girl used to paying a tenner plus for a nice drink). The last couple of years, I've got myself into gear and booked in September to eat there, and except for the small incident I had where the oysters made me throw up in the church toilets during the carol service the next day, it has been totally magical. (Nb. that is not really Rules' fault, apparently the chance of you getting sick from raw oysters is 1 in 12, either way it was totally bloody worth it). Even with no booking whatsoever you can go down any time for a drink in their wonderful bar.

Anyhoo, enough of the waffling behold the beauty which is Rules restaurant at Christmas for yourself:

Apparently it takes 2 days to decorate Rules restaurant - people come in overnight on 2 occasions and transform the restaurant into a winter wonderland

The food at Rules is quite classic, and a lot of the menu is game. You could argue it is a little dated, but I think the food matches the atmosphere well. Will and I shared a rib of beef with yorkshire pudding, dauphinoise potatoes, shallots and spinach.

And for pudding, Bakewell tart with clotted cream, and tarte tatin.

This very very strong cocktail is called the Kate Middleton!

Before or after your meal, or just if you fancy you can come and relax in this bar upstairs.

Rules is London's oldest restaurant. Established in 1798 it has welcomed many a famous face since then: Laurence Olivier, Charlie Chapman, Henry Irving and even the king of London Christmases himself - Charles Dickens. You might spot it on Downton Abbey, and it has also been mentioned in a number of novels including ones by Graham Greene and Dick Francis, so it really is a treat to dine or have a drink in a little piece of London history.

It will be tricky to get a night to dine in Rules before Christmas now, but you can swing by for a drink in their lovely bar with it's roaring fire and delicious cocktails and other tipples. Check out their website, here.

So how much will it cost you for a night at Rules?

(Unless you do what I did and have one too many Kate Middletons and think it is a good idea to order an uber limo home... then it will cost you more.)

Like dining somewhere interesting and special, and don't mind biding your time? Check out my post: Lover: Butler's Wharf Blackout Dinner

Loner: 12 things you can do alone to get yourself feeling all Christmassy and warm inside

Oh my giddy ants, my last post was 2000 words! I am so sorry, that is basically a normal sized essay. To even things out this time I have decided to just make a little list.

It is coming to the end of the Advent's Advent (more commonly known as November, but I call it the Advent's Advent as it is the advent of the advent - get it - and I actually made up an excellent Christmas song about it, which I am tempted to put on youtube and link to below, but I am not ready to be a viral sensation yet, which you know, I totes would be once "It's the Advent's Advent" hits the masses...anyhoo back to my point) so it is basically CHRISTMAAAAAAS!

I've made a little list of loner things you can do to get into the Christmas spirit. I realise Christmas is not really a time to be alone, but to be with family and friends - Elvis Presley even made a song about how crap it is to be lonely at Christmas (with no one to hold). Nonetheless if you are anything like me, sometimes there are days when your friends and family just can't keep up with your Christmas spirit, so for when your boyfriend wants to stay in bed rather than go on a Christmas pub crawl, or your mum insists mulling wine is just a way of ruining a good bottle of red, here are some ideas of things you can do to get into the Christmas mood.

Some of them are blatantly obvious, a lot of them just involve doing what you would normally but adding a mug of mulled wine and Michael Buble's Christmas album as a soundtrack, but they are all guaranteed to make you feel a bit more Christmassy. Yay!

1. Make your own bauble and drink some bubbles, at Homemade's "Bauble and Bubbles" with dates throughout November and December - When I went to Homemade London with a friend, there were other people by themselves, and I don't think it would be cringey at all to turn up alone - I think I will in the future. Plus there is nothing more luxurious in the world than drinking prosecco by yourself.

2. Watch a Christmas movie - Ok such an obvious one, but definitely will make you feel Christmassy. I watched my first Christmas movie of the year - Love Actually - yesterday. Personally, I have 9 films I watch every year, always in order of Christmassyness to get me into the Christmas spirit. So I start with Love Actually (as it is set 5 weeks before Christmas) and Meet me in St. Louis (as only some of it is Christmassy) and end with It's a Wonderful Life on Christmas Eve and White Christmas on Christmas Day. Works a charm. Also, add some Christmassy snacks to the experience and it goes up a notch: quality streets, mince pies, yule log. Yesterday I sat down with the Christmas cheese of choice, blue stilton, and a mug of mulled wine. Christmas o' clock.

3. Go to a Carol Service -  I quite like going to things like the proms by myself as I think it makes me appreciate how beautiful classical music actually is, and it all sounds more poignant more epic. If I go to church, I also quite like going alone for the same reasons. It just feels more spiritual that way for me. Though I will be going to a carol service with my family and friends this year, I'll also be heading to the NSPCC's London Carol by Candlelight service alone. A fantastic choir singing carols, some celebrity readers, lots of lovely candles in one of the most gorgeous churches (Christ Church Spitalfields) about and wait for it... prosecco and a cupcake included. And the proceeds from the ticket goes to charity. It don't get more Christmassy than that. Book here.

4. Make an advent calendar. Pro bloggers Elsie and Emma from the USA, always have absolutely amazing craft tutorials in their blog, A Beautiful Mess, which look very professional but are not actually too tricky. I really love this one to make a string Advent Calendar, which is almost enough to make me give up a chocolate one this year. Almost. (Also, if you want a good excuse not to eat chocolate every day check out these beauty ones on beauty and lifestyle Blogger Pink Confetti's site).

The advent calendar you can make if you check out abeautifulmess.com (copyright Elsie Larson)

5. The Christmas mile at Kew Gardens. So turns out Kew Gardens isn't just a summer place, but a winter one too! This Christmas a mile of Kew Gardens lined with fir trees will be decorated with glasshouses, illuminated fountains and enough fairy lights to look like fireworks frozen in time. Lovely to stroll down with a lover or a friend, but if they don't fancy it, nice to spend a little "me time" in too.

6. Wrap presents. So bang smack in the face obvious again, I know, but I am not doing all my Christmas wrapping in a hurried mess on Christmas eve, this year I pouring a huge mug of hot mulled wine and putting Michael Buble's Christmas on and actually enjoying it. I also want to wrap them as nicely as my limited skills will allow. I am thinking this year, instead of buying lots of paper in Paperchase, which although beautiful gets glitter everywhere, I am going to buy just some cheap brown paper and then get a cute little stamp and ink to make my own Christmas wrapping paper. notonthehightstreet.com has lots of fabulous designs. I personally love this stag stamp and this little gingerbread man one.

7. And on a similar note... write cards. I reckon I am at the age now, where I should start sending them, rather than just giving people gifts with their name on in marker pen.

8. Have a Christmas Bath: Is that a thing? If not it definitely should be. Is there anything more wintery and snuggly than lighting a few winter spice candles, chucking in your Lush Christmas pudding bath bomb and relaxing with...you guessed it a mug of mulled wine and Michael Buble's Christmas album on. If you're a bit fed up of all the mulled wine you've had so far, I am also really loving a hot Cawston Press Apple and Rhubarb (just in a mug and heated up in the microwave for a minute or so) with a dash of Fire Eater Cinnamon Whiskey thrown in.

Holly Golightly, £4.75 and The Christmas Penguin, £3.25 from Lush

9. Go Christmas shopping...another obvious one, but I definitely think the hustle and bustle is probably least stressful braved alone. And there is so much different types of Christmas shopping to be done in London. Gawk but don't necessarily buy, at the amazing window displays and decorations in Harrods, Liberty, Fortnum & Mason. Join the crowds on Oxford Street, or go searching for Christmas food at Borough Market, sipping on hot cider and testing some Christmas cheeses.

10. Christmas past exhibition at the Geffrye Museum - wander around the rooms of the muesum in Hoxton, looking at how the average room was set for Christmas all the way from the 15th century to the 1970s to the present day.

11. Go and get a red cup - or for that matter a snowman/gingerbread/santa claus cup (from Starbucks and Costa). Nothing like walking home in crisp cold weather with a limited edition peppermint hot chocolate or a praline cappuccino to warm your mits.

12. Volunteer - It is the cheesiest thing in the world, but I genuinely believe that what makes Christmas a million times better than any birthday, is that there really is joy to the world, and goodwill to all mankind. That is what makes it so magical. What better way to spread some of that goodwill at Christmas than to volunteer? A couple of years ago I volunteered for Crisis at Christmas. Crisis is a homeless charity, that every Christmas hosts a shelter with all the trimmings. And I mean all the trimmings. As well as serving homeless people across London a Christmas dinner, and giving them a bed for a few nights, Crisis at Christmas provides everything from legal advice to live Christmas entertainment to haircuts, and all of it is given by volunteers. If you want to sign up to be a volunteer from Crisis at Christmas (if you are not a songstress or a hairdresser, you can be a general volunteer like me, which basically means you spend your days chatting and playing chess with Crisis' customers) then you can do here. You can volunteer in Newcastle and Edinburgh too. I really love a Christmas at home with my family, so the 2 days Crisis asks you to give up I don't fancy every year, so if you want to volunteer more flexibly or you don't want to volunteer with homeless people, but would prefer something else, I found this terrific network the other day, Hands on London, which means you can volunteer doing lots of different things with no minimum commitment. Check it out here.

And that's it! Maybe not as succinct as I initially promised...sorry!

Happy Advent's Advent!

Do you like a random list? If yes, check out my post, Lover: the pros and cons of moving in with your boyfriend, as told by Beyonce's visual album