It may be Halloween today but from midnight tonight the ghosts of October go back into their tombs and the bright beautiful Christmas magic begins! Mariah and Michael will be singing again! The lights lit! The world will ultimately be a better place! Something that inspired me to make today’s time travelling guest, the very festive and incredibly fantastic Christmas loving Hannah Bartlett!

Good Morning Lovelies, 

Firstly, a very very HAPPY HALLOWEEN to you all! I hope that you all have loads planned for today and are ready to party hard! Because after tonight, the festivities truly begin! This inspired me to make our guest this month in the blog’s Time Machine a wonderful Christmas loving soul like me! 

Hannah Bartlett is the creator of Jolly Festive, an online space that shares the ultimate ways to celebrate Christmas. From homemade advent calendar day ideas to easy DIY and gift giving advice, it’s full to the brim with everything you need to have the best December. Honestly, I won’t go anywhere else now to get my festive ideas. 

Pack up those pumpkins, grab a hot chocolate and settle down to enjoy this festive themed time travelling trip with Hannah and me! Because Christmas is coming…

Let’s begin by letting you introduce yourself to us? Tell us your name, age and the year you were born!

I’m Hannah Bartlett, 45, born 1979 - just snuck into the groovy years 😉. Having adored Christmas as a child and been ‘the Christmas person’ in my group as an adult, I now run a year-round Christmas blog called Jolly Festive and can let my festive creative juices run wild 365 days a year!

Now, let’s step back in time! What year would you love to go back to and relive all over again?

Oh wow, I think that would have to be the year 2000.  The year (century, millennium!) got off to a great start as we had managed to gather our disparate family from all corners of the world and celebrated the Y2K Christmas and NYE countdown together – it was full of feather boas, games, airbeds, food, and so much laughter.  I was finishing university, had found ‘my people’, and was starting to find myself a bit too.  That old cliché of you can’t put an old head on young shoulders rings so true when I think back to this time - how little I appreciated then all the possibility that lay ahead of me!  Of course, all the stress of final exams has faded over time, and I just remember feeling truly happy and excited about life!

Okay, now picture this, you are at school and it’s lunchtime! What foods do you always associate with either your packed lunch or canteen?

I had canteen lunches throughout school.  In my junior school, that meant dollops of something very ‘traditional school lunch’ from Mrs Whiskers.  I loved the apple crisp (stewed apple covered in honeyed cornflakes) but can still remember the skin on the semolina, ugh!  Senior school – I honestly cannot remember a single specific dish, but I do remember the almighty clatter and my hot reddening face when I dropped my full tray in the queue on my first day.

You’ve got to go into your last lesson of the day! What are you hoping it will be and why?

I’m one of the fortunate ones for whom studying has always come quite naturally.  I’m a lifelong learner and whenever I discover something new and interesting, I always want to dive in and learn everything I can.  It’s been a foundation of my varied career to date and certainly contributes to my passion for blogging now.  But back to school – maths and science were my first and biggest loves. Languages have always appealed as well -the gateway to travel and immersing myself in other cultures.  So maybe German with Frau Jones.  

Schools over, you have rushed home to watch TV. What are you turning on? Why this show in particular?

Blue Peter followed by Neighbours. I’m the double-sided-sticky-tape, here’s-one-I-made-earlier, make-your-own-Tracy-Island generation and Blue Peter just could not be missed. It was the mid-to-late nineties when Neighbours was at its popularity peak and our storyline was at least six months behind Australia.  My friend was a regular Aussie visitor and would tape a few episodes whilst there - we’d all cram into the science labs at school to watch them in the first week back after the holidays.

You’ve reached the weekend and you’re going to the cinema! What film do you remember seeing the most when you were younger? Why is this one such a classic to you?

Ooooh, I think it’d have to be The Little Mermaid – I can distinctly remember skipping down the road with my Dad as we left the cinema, singing ‘Under The Sea’. It’s one of those childhood pure bliss memories that I hold dear.

You are back home and it’s time to play with your toys! What was the toy you most wanted when you were younger and why? Did you get it in the end?

LEGO. I still adore it. I’m surprised I didn’t go into town planning given the amount of village construction that went on in my bedroom! Making houses and cars out of weird and wonderful pieces and mapping out road routes around the town. It was my happy place as a child - the airport set was my prized possession - and I love building sets with my elder son now too. It’ll come as no surprise to hear that I collect Christmas LEGO.

Is there anything you still own from your childhood that you simply cannot bear to part with?

Errr, I still have that LEGO airport set!  Beyond that it’s silly little things - Father Christmas once gave me a scented pen with a spiralled teal lid. I loved it so much I couldn’t bear to use but still have it now – and it smells just the same!

What moment in history do you think defined or stayed with you from your childhood? Can you explain why this left such a mark on you?

Oh gosh, I’m really struggling to pick one.  My cousins and I have had an Olympic tradition from as long as I can remember.  Each Olympics we reflect on what’s happened since the last and what might happen by the next one.  We’ve carried the tradition on into adulthood and I love the opportunity it gives for pause and reset - four years feels like a reasonable amount of time to look back over and aspire towards.

Finally, would you go back and do your childhood all over again? Would you change anything about it? And how much has it impacted you as an adult and what you do now?

Oh goodness this is a big question! I wouldn’t want to do anything that would jeopardise me meeting my husband, having our two gorgeous sons, and being surrounded by the wonderful friendships I have been so fortunate to build along the way.  My childhood was blessed with love, laughter, comfort, adventure and family.  Yes, there are things I would go back and tweak – decisions that had consequences I didn’t conceive or have since spent time regretting.  But of course, it’s all shaped me into the person I am now, and I’ve learnt from the challenges and choices made along the way.

Thank you so much Hannah for coming on this trip with me! I am truly ready to put my tree up now, whilst enjoying this nostalgic buzz that she has created! In fact, I may just have to put up some 90s inspired decorations to keep that classic magic alive. To see what magical items Hannah comes up with make sure to check out her website now! Before getting those trees up! Who else is with me?

Joey X