untold blisses

I unashamedly love Christmas.  I love getting gifts, I love giving gifts, I love the food, and I love being around my family.  And I’ve been lucky enough to have some pretty great Christmases.  This year was no different.

We stayed at my in-laws Christmas Eve and opened our first gifts there when we woke up on Christmas morning.  And the gifts didn’t stop when we got to my parents for dinner (which was YUMMY.  Well done my Mum).  My parents tend to get Husband and I joint gifts and then other individual gifts.  We got a fancy knife set for our new kitchen which is much needed as we’re pretty much using one knife for everything at the moment.  Husband got lots of things for his travels and I got many many Ollie and Nic items.  WOO!  Plus very cute slippers, a woodland animal scarf and a fluffy snuggly top thing.

I got to open two presents from Husband at this point – a solid state hard drive (yay?  In all fairness, my Macbook does need a new one) and a beautiful drusy ring by Rachel Pfeffer.  I’d mentioned drusy jewellery years ago, and he’d obviously noted it down.  It’s so pretty and sparkly!!  And also impossible to photograph with the lenses I have.

I need to stop looking at Rachel’s site now because I want everything.

We spent the afternoon watching Alpha Papa which I had bought my Dad for part of his present, and when my Mum started to get bored of watching the Blu Ray extras, we went back to the in-laws for MORE presents.

Husband and I finished swapping presents, and he surprised me again with a Tatty Devine lobster.

I love it. It’s flipping glittery!  He saw it online and thought it would be such a great present, especially seeing as we spent a few days in Maine a couple of months ago.  Can’t wait to wear it.

He also got me a hard case for my Parrot Zik headphones and hardback copies of the Hunger Games.

My in-laws bought me Be Awesome by Hadley Freeman and Shady Characters by Keith Houston.  They also got me some Lush and Beauticology gift sets so I have some amazing baths to look forward to, a Ciate velvet manicure set, some pretty tights, and other assorted goodies.

Another favourite gift came from my Brother-in-law and his wife – a gorgeous set of lights from Brighton based Cable and Cotton.  They’re stunning.

I’ve wanted these for so long, now I just need to figure out where they’ll look best.  These are the Rainbow Drops set, but all of their sets are gorgeous and I would quite happily have them all around my house.

Sales shopping has been a bit hit and miss, and I’ve had more luck online than the high street.  I managed to get myself some more Snow Fairy (the only exception to my Lush ban, and only when it’s half price), some more beauty gift sets from Beauticology and Cowshed, and I am super excited to have bought an advent calendar.  Yes, an advent calendar, which is filled with a nail polish behind every door.  I was tempted by the Ciate Mini Mani Month when it was full price, but it’s even more of a bargain now it’s half price.  I was considering opening one every two weeks for the next year, but I’m not sure if I will manage to last out that long.

I still have another week off work, and at the end of the week we’re off to Brighton again for another visit to the Coalshed and another stay at the Old Ship Hotel.  It’s going to be bloody windy, but not even the weather can spoil Brighton.