Christmas Dinner at the Shard

Happy Christmas Eve Eve!

I thought I’d make my last post before Christmas a bit of a special one :)

A couple of weeks go, the lovely lovely team from George at ASDA got in touch to invite me along to their Christmas dinner.

Now, this blog has given me some amazing opportunities this year.

Pretty much all of them have been awesome but a special handful were just totally surreal (in a really reaaaally good way!).

Sitting front row at Fashion Week is high on that list.

So is being asked to try out amazing restaurants and culinary experiences.

Getting to review Nicole Scherzinger in Cats is also on there.

And being invited to Christmas dinner at The Shard with some of my favourite bloggers?

Yep.

That’s VERY high on the list!

I think my jaw dropped when I first walked out of the lift on to the 34th floor of the Shangri La hotel.

Gorgeous decorations, a fantastic Christmas tree and floor-to-ceiling windows showcasing the London skyline in all its glory.

A friendly waiter handed me a glass of bubbles and a tiny teacup of vegetable pie, and I knew right then that this was going to be a good party!

I had a massive catchup with Erica and Angela, which was lovely, and admired their fab outfits. George had very kindly gifted us all party dresses for the event, and everyone was all sparkly and gorgeous!

Except me cos I gave them the wrong address so it didn’t arrive in time!

Which just sums up my life story really…

I also finally met Laura (Tiny Twisst) and Laura (Heroine in Heels) and Laura (six out of ten) which was a delight.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, getting to meet internet buddies IRL is my favourite thing!

The star of this party though was without a doubt the FABULOUS view.

London is honestly so gorgeous at night time!

Once we’d all made our way to our dining room and (obviously) Instagrammed the hell out of everything, we sat down to our starters:

Smoked salmon and crab meat, caviar and cubed beetroot and kefir lime.

Beautifully presented and so soooo good!

The main course was (of course) roast turkey with roast potatoes, delicious chestnut stuffing, little sausages, brussel sprouts, carrot puree and cranberry compote.

All perfectly cooked and oh so very festive!

After dinner we were all ushered into a mirrored lift and headed up to the Gong bar on the 52nd floor where there’s an INDOOR SWIMMING POOL!

(And more floor-to-ceiling windows. Obvs.)

I love hanging out with bloggers.

It’s genuinely the only time I’m not made to feel weird for taking photos of everything!

Everyone got out their cameras and started taking outfit photos and selfies and vlogging, and I fitted right in with them.

Hurrah!

After photos we shot off back downstairs for dessert: chocolate brownie with caramelised pears and salted caramel ice-cream.

Diviiiine.

Then Santa paid us a visit!

George had very kindly organised presents for each of us: a Christmas jumper, tartan slipper boots, ear muffs, mitten-gloves and the softest snuggliest scarf…

I got a Rudolph jumper which I loooove, but I think Erica’s jumper was the best.

You download an app, then tuck your phone into the little pocket on the front and voila!

One lit-up fireplace jumper.

Then we all lined up to have our photo taken in our jumpers.

Which obviously we took VERY seriously…

 

I had SUCH an incredible night.

Thank you so much to George at ASDA for inviting me, for providing such a fabulous event and for all my lovely lovely gifts.

Thank you to all the brilliant ladies from that evening, for being so much fun (and for letting me use some of your photos in my post!)

And thank you to all of you who are reading this.

Your lovely comments and emails and tweets have been one of the biggest highlights of my year, and your reading is pretty much the only reason I get invited to these things.

I am so incredibly grateful to you all for supporting me in my adventures.

I hope you have the loveliest of times this holiday season and I wish health and happiness to all of you, your friends and your families.

Have a very Merry Christmas :)

*royal wave*