I hope you’ve had a wonderful Christmas! And if Christmas isn’t your vibe, I hope you had a lovely December 🎄❄️
My Mum visited me in England for our annual early-Christmas tradition. We saw the Mousetrap play in London, forged our own silver rings and tasted English wine! 🐭💍🍷 It was a busy week but I had so much fun and it’s really special to have that time together. I’d prefer to go home to Canada in the summer when the weather is nice, we can go for hikes and swim in the pool - but that means I miss Christmas in Ontario. So having Mum come this way means a lot (I know that flight well and it’s never pleasant!)
After Mum leaves in early December, it kind of feels like Christmas has already happened! But my partner and I had a nice day together opening presents, having our traditional sausage rolls and English mustard and then lounging around the house in that weird time after Christmas and before the New Year.
As for work, I don’t really take much time off. I decided to skip a Youtube upload (it was supposed to go up on December 24) but I continued working - just on the next upload instead. It’ll nice to build up a backlog of content again, especially in the wintertime when it feels like everyone I know is getting sick.
As for A+N content in 2025? It’s hard to believe it’ll be 8 years this coming summer that I’ve been on Youtube and every year I’m grateful to survive to see another one! I’m excited to continue my solo trip series, do some more British baking, learn new things about the UK and hopefully make a few people laugh along the way.




A+N Updates
On Youtube this month I shared unexpected British habits I’ve adopted over the last 9 years, reacted to the latest British Christmas adverts and a Christmasy-vlog as I prepare for the big day!
Like I mentioned, I skipped a Youtube upload but just kept working on the next one - I hope you like the new content in 2025!
This month on Twitch we watched a hilariously bad Christmas movie, built some lego and played some games together. We also hosted our first-ever Discord Secret Santa! 🎅🏻 For those in our Discord who wanted to participate, we divided everyone up to buy a secret present for their person and then we opened them together on a Twitch livestream! It was so much fun and I’m so grateful so many people wanted to join in and surprise a community member this Christmas 🎁
If you’d like to watch a bonus full-length weekly video, please consider joining me on Patreon or Youtube Memberships. I post the same content on each platform, but I know some people prefer staying on Youtube or vice versa.
This month for my exclusive content I made my own Christmas wreath, reacted to the weirdest British Christmas #1 songs, shared all the details of what my mum and I got up to during her visit and I recapped our A+N Book Club 2024! We read so many good books this year, it was hard to pick a favourite! 📚
What I’ve been watching + reading
This month I watched a handful of great movies! Conclave was a stand-out - incredible acting, really interesting plot and shot beautifully. Juror #2 was stressful (in a good way) and Blitz was so expansive. I’d recommend them all for different reasons!
As part of our informal monthly Book Club on our Discord (available to certain tiers on Patreon/YT Members), we read Five Decembers By James Kestrel and I loved it! Set in Hawaii in 1941, we join a detective as he tries to solve a grisly murder. I loved that this book incorporated so many genres to make something unique - a bit of romance and murder-mystery all set on the backdrop of World War II. If you’re looking for something a bit dark and different, I would totally recommend this one. I couldn’t put it down!🕵🏻
Bits that made me laugh
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 🥂✨ As much as it feels like time has no meaning during this part of the year, I love planning and looking ahead to the new year. I don’t like setting “New Years Resolutions” because it usually feels like you pick something at random (and after setting so many over the years and never following through, it feels a bit pointless). HOWEVER I really benefit from deciding on what I want to focus on in the new year - you only have so much energy and so many hours in the day, so what will I focus on?
I’ll be hosting a goal setting livestream on Twitch on January 1 is you find yourself about and bored! Come say hi!
Alanna x