Deck the Halls

Although Christmas is now creeping up in the shops from September, for me it's quite important to wait until December to decorate the house and fully embrace the festive spirit.And this year it is the first time we can truly say we are spending Christmas "at home", so it has been a very special month spent decorating and planning for our guests to enjoy the festivities without the hassle of moving furniture around as a bonus!

We used to live next to a funky little pub where they used to sell fresh trees, and for as long as we lived in our old place we used to get one, but with age comes a more environmentally-friendly conscience and last year we took the plunge and went plastic. I can hear you say : "oh but it's not the smae thing" and that's quite true. I miss the smell, but not the dead needles. Instead now we have the luxury of having our very own shrubs, which I made several bouquets with. The main tree remains plastic. Best of both worlds, right?

Over the years our collection of trinkets has grown too, and it's always a nice moment when we open the decorations box and find things we had almost forgotten from the year before.
I love my little glittery deers and iceskating owls, but I will always have a serious penchant for my Maldivian seashell ornaments ;)
Do you have special ornaments from years ago too? 

Wishing you all a ***lovely Christmas***

My little Goodnight box

Aaaaaah....I have completely forgotten to tell you about November's Little Box, so here is a quick review - I only realised I ought to post when I received the December box yesterday!
Quite aptly, November's was called "Goodnight", and perfectly in tune with the grey weather, oh-so-short days and complete lack of interest in staying up late these days.

The lifestyle presents were very sweet again this month: a sleeping mask and a pretty adorable sidetable dish to put your trinkets in before going to sleep. I've actually been using it every night since the box arrived, although I have to say it's quite small, but that's OK as I tend to just wear stud-like earrings. I will be keeping my sleeping mask for when I am travelling next, as it's not the kind of thing I use at home.

Our beauty presents were a mixed bag for me this month. I was pleased with the Little Beauty make-up remover gel, it's quite neutral in terms of perfume and has a nice texture on the skin. It's not a product I normally use (I'm a wipe kinda gal), so once again it's a good discovery.
I am just not into Yves Rocher perfumes, and this is the third this year, so I'm not too happy with that, but hey, I can just throw it into a Christmas stocking, so I guess that's ok. But please, Little box, stop sending those, they're just not cool. And three this year? I bet other brands are lining up to be a part of the Little Box hype, aren't they? Give them a chance :)
The last thing was the best by far: Garnier Skin Active's 3 in 1. It's a great cleanser for everyday, and I love how it gently scrubs you at the same time. You can also use it as a mask, so it's a win-win product. Nice!
 Overall another nice box with a good few presents. What did you think of it? Do you feel the same about the old Yves Rocher perfumes, or did you enjoy them?

Sweet Pamplemousse

During our time in Mauritius we decided to try and see a bit of what the island had to offer and one of our days was in the North, where we visited the sugar museum and then the gorgeous Pamplemousse botanical gardens.
We were surprised by how quiet the place was, given that it was Sunday and our private guide told us the entrance fee was waived for all Mauritians on that day. The sugar museum was also a big surprise, and we were fascinated as soon as we entered, not only by the manufacturing aspect of sugar, but also and mostly by the way its industry has shaped Mauritian history over the centuries, all in the name of our European sweet tooth!

NB - For all our excursions we booked via Mautourco once we arrived at our hotel. The price for a private car was not that different to the group quote, and the guides we had on each day were super friendly and, more importantly, flexible. For example, most people ask to go to Port Louis, the capital, but we didn't feel the attaction to go there, preferring the smaller, quieter, more open-air places instead. The guys are cool and friendly, so I would totally recommend that option, especially if you travel with little people!

Blue like you

Selecting themes and photos for my Mauritius posts is proving to be a bit more of a challenge than I anticipated, and with good reasons! There is so much to show from our stay in this lovely island last month...

My first installment is all about first impressions, and boy does the colour blue hit you hard when you first set foot on Mauritius. What I didn't quite expect is to see so many shades of it, quite akin to our experience in the Maldives last year (posts here, here for part 2 and here for part 3) but truly, the Indian Ocean did not disappoint and we were literally mesmerized by the lagoon surrounding the East of Mauritius, which is where our lovely hotel The Residence was located. 

Beach holidays are perfect when you have a toddler in tow, and the Residence hotel was just right for our family, offering the perfect safe environment for her to blossom under the sun and for us to have a bit of breathing time in the middle of our busy lives. We even had time to go on a few excursions, more on that in the coming posts.