Review: Nativity 2 - Danger in the manger

Well what a great couple of hours I've just spent with the kids cuddled up watching Nativity 2. I had no idea what to expect as I haven't seen the first movie but my 10 year old JJ rants on about how fabulous it is and he has been dying to watch this movie.

I can now see why he wanted to see it so much. What a great feel good movie, I love the kind of movie that is simple enough for the kids to understand but also entertaining and comical enough that us adults enjoy it too.

Yes it is corny in parts and Mr Poppy (Marc Wooton) will drive you bonkers but David Tennant (Mr Peterson) is fabulous and it is such fun to watch him playing two parts, I can really imagine he had a ball making this.

What's the story?
St Bernadettes is without a year 7 teacher and the kooky and irresponsible teaching assistant Mr Poppy, who is the nephew of the headmistress is driving every teacher away. Thank goodness that Mr Peterson is not so easily scared off and he joins the team and ends up having to get involved with Mr Poppys plans that the kids will travel to Wales and take part in the national contest 'A song for Christmas'. The film follows their hilarious journey to the event and will have you laughing, cringing and cheering them on.

Nativity 2: Danger in the manager will make an excellent Christmas present and I see it is available for £10.00 on Amazon at the moment for a DVD or £12.99 on Blu-ray. There is also a fab box set with Nativity 1 and 2 for just £13.55.

Run time: 106 minutes
Certificate: U

Have a look at the trailer and see for yourself if this is a film for you -

December review round-up

Hello all,

I wanted to share with you about a few of the products I have been using recently to review.

Duracell Ultra Power batteries - In my opinion nothing has ever taken over from Duracell as being the best batteries on the market but Duracell do not seem content to rest of their laurels and they keep coming out with longer and longer lasting batteries - brilliant. A couple of months back I was sent some AA Duracell Ultra Power batteries and we put them in one of our torches. As we now live in the middle of nowhere and street lights are a thing of the past our torch is getting used an awful lot and I'm glad to say our batteries are still going strong. I had real peace of mind when we were preparing for the bad storm last month to know my torches would work if we needed them in a power cut. It is also great that you get the Powercheck on the pack and you can easily see ow much life your battery still has left in it. These AA batteries cost about £4.80 per pack of 4 in all the major supermarkets but most of them seem to be doing a 2 for 1 offer at the moment, making them a great price. Nothing worse than being without batteries on Christmas morning so do remember to stock up for those kids toys and gadgets.

Andrex classic white toilet roll - When Andrex sent me an email to ask me if I would like to make my bathroom festive for our seasonal guests I did wonder what they were on about but as a satisfied Andrex customer of many years I thought I'd give it a go and I'm pleased I did. Look how nice my downstairs loo looks now it is ready for the season!

I'm happy to endorse Andrex products as growing up it was the only toilet roll my Dad would buy as he likes a quality roll. My personal favourite is the Aloe Vera but I tend to only get that when it is on special and it is the classic white that adorns my bathroom - the perfect balance of softness, strength and length.

Disclosure: these products were sent to me free of charge to review, I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.

Review: Hotel Chocolat Jingles and Mingles Bag

I have heard so much about Hotel Chocolat over the last few years but I've not actually tried any of their products until now. They look really nice but the price tag had put me off somewhat.

I was pleased to be offered the chance to review something from their Christmas range and I choose to try out the Mingles and Jingles bag.  This is 35 individually wrapped chocolates all presented in a cloth drawstring bag. The chocolates are milk (40% cocoa), white and milk caramel chocolate and come in very cute bell, angel and penguin shapes.

This is how it looks on the Hotel Chocolat website and I think the bag looks as if it has a silky quality to it. Unfortunately it does not it is just sort of a cream natural cotton feeling fabric.

This bag of 35 chocolates retails at £21, which at first glance feels quite expensive to me but when you break it down to a price per chocolate it is only 60p each and that feels OK for a premium product which is individually wrapped. I gave some out whilst I was at work the other day and my colleagues enjoyed them, especially the white chocolate bell, they really are exquisite. The milk chocolate penguin is good too but not as special as I might have hoped and the milk caramel chocolate is not to my taste.

You can see from my picture that the chocolates gets a bit beaten up by being in the bag with all the others. When you unwrap the individual chocolates they have little scraps and marks on them which takes away the quality feel and is a shame.

I did like the fact that there is a 100% satisfaction guarantee in every box of chocolates and I have to be honest and say that if I had spent £21.00 on these chocolates I might have been asking to use that as I want perfect condition chocolates for that money not beaten up ones, even if they do taste quite good.

I was very pleased with how quickly the chocolates arrived and the box they came in was attractive and the bag was well cushioned with packaging. There are a range of delivery options, the cheapest of which is standard 3-5 day delivery for £3.95 for one item. The last day to order for standard UK delivery is 18th December but you can order right up until 11am on 24th December if you are wiling to pay for the shuttle delivery service. There is also a free click and collect service if you are local to any of the stores.

Hotel Chocolate have a tasting club (which I think, was how I first heard of them, from friends who were enjoying lots of new taste sensations) and you can become a member and sign up to receive parcels of different chocolates to try, this is something that does some very interesting to me.

Disclosure: I received these chocolates for the purpose of this review. I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.

Review: Notcutts Christmas lights

When Notcutts offered me some new Christmas lights to review I immediately thought of my husband and how thrilled he would be. I know he has been after some more to decorate work (the conference centre where we live) and I asked him what he would like, at first he said to me some outside ones for the tea room and then he changed his mind to some for the main tree in the great hall.

He had a look at the 89 different ones on the Notcutts website (yes there really is that many) and decided that he would like some lights that could be used both in or outdoors and wanting some quite plain and simple ones, he went for the 400 white icicle lights. Looking at the picture on the website (below), he expected these to be a single train of lights but actually what arrived with us is a string of light that have 4 or 5 bulbs hanging down in the idea of icicles. I suppose it makes sense but personally I think the picture needs to be clearer in the future.

The lights are also called twinkling lights and I think we both thought that would be a gentle twinkle, it is actually a very in your face constant flashing. This is fine for outside and I can imagine these being used on the front of someone's house. For inside, in the bookshop in our case it really is a bit much after a while. Reception faced these lights and they could drive the receptionist bonkers after a while.

As you can see, they do look very nice. The white cord is quality and very long (17.4m in total), the bulbs are long-life, energy-saving LED and they are mains powered. They were supplied in a sturdy white plastic box with a clip on lid. This is great for packing them away and will last a long time.

These particular lights are now out of stock but I think they retailed for £40. If you are looking for some indoor or outdoor Christmas lights, then do have a look at your local Notcutts or on the Notcutts website as there is a fabulous selection.

Disclosure: I received these lights free of charge for the purpose of this review. I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.

Review: Be.ez LA robe case for 15" Macbook/ laptop

I requested this laptop case for review as recently I've been concerned about the amount of times I'm taking my laptop out of the house and of course the more it is moved around the more potential there is for it to be bashed.

I have a 15" Toshiba laptop and I was super excited to get a Be.ez LA robe case for it and as it is advertised as being for a 15" I thought all would be fine. Sadly what I now see is that the Be.ez is developed especially for Macbooks, which are of course far more slimline than my laptop. I could not get my 15" laptop into the bag.  Thankfully I went over to visit my mum and her laptop is 14.5" and this fits perfectly and snuggly in the case. So the Be.ez LA robe case does work for a traditional laptop if it is 14.5" or less.

It is such a shame I had to give the case away as I really love it, it is by far the best case I have come across. I have a Belbin one for my netbook and this is far superior in every way but particularly in the thickness and protection capacity of the case. The case is made from low resilience polyurethane material and is 5mm thick. The outside graphite colour fabric is jersey and the inside is a soft fleece and comes in burgundy, blue or black. There is also an inner lip for maximum protection.

The design is simple and unlikely to offend anyone and the zips are excellent, really wide grips for easy pulling. Take a look at the picture below and see how well the protective material works, I pressed my hand in hard and got imprints and then the picture on the right shows how well the material recovers and goes right back to normal, even after a nail imprint!

My Mum is really happy with her gift, so I suppose that is a bonus and I'll just have to sort myself out with another case for my laptop.

You can purchase the 13" or 15" Be.ez LA robe case on Amazon and I see the prices for a 15" one are as little as £17.70 which I think is a really great price for this quality product.

Overall verdict: If you have a Macbook or a laptop of 14.5" or less then I give this product 10/10 as I think it is superb.

Disclosure: I was sent this case free of charge for the purpose of this review. I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.