What I Got For Christmas 2016

It's that time again!


Time to pen what is probably the most controversial post I write for my blog: a good ol' 'what I got for Christmas.' I'm v aware that a lot of people don't like these for their own very valid reasons but my family and I like to look back on them and idk I just like doing them. I feel so loved and grateful for all of the gifts my parents / boyfriend took the time to choose and wrap for me and I don't think there's anything wrong with sharing them. The gifts I've received could seem like nothing to you, or they could seem ridiculously extravagant, but we all have our own realities and this is mine. I personally love reading these posts and think about how nice it is to see others happy / grateful.

Before we crack on, allow me to ask: how was your Christmas? I hope you all had the most wonderful day. Mine was rather difficult mental-health-wise but I got to watch Lord of the Rings and I even managed to eat Christmas dinner this year, which is a small but significant indicator that my brain is recovering.

Aaaand now onto the gifts!

My family well and truly outdid themselves this year! I didn't have a 'main' present from my Mum or Luke so mainly received lots of little things which suits me nicely. My Dad did go all out and got me an Instax Mini 8 though!! It's yellow which I love because I've never seen a yellow one before.

CRUELTY-FREE BEAUTY
The main bulk of my beauty gifts came from my dad, just like they do every year, although Mum did get me some Body Shop skincare bits I'd picked out. From my Dad I received a 250g (!!) bottle of Snow Fairy, a Magic Wand bubble bar, a Crazy Rumours Mint Choc lip balm, a mini tub of Snow Fairy body lotion, a I Love Juicy shampoo and a few lip balms and bath crystals from Superdrug. It's safe to say he knows which Lush scent is my favourite! From Mum I received an entire new skincare routine: a Aloe Calming toner, a Camomile Gentle eye makeup remover, a Camomile Sumptuous cleansing butter, a Camomile Silky cleansing oil and a Vitamin E moisturiser. One of my 2017 goals is to invest more time & money into my skincare routine and this selection of goodies is definitely going to help that!

VEGAN TREATS
My family did so well with buying veggie / vegan treats for me! I received some Party Rings, a bag of Good Stuff gummy bears, some Jelly Belly jelly beans (veggie), Tyrell's sweet & salty Poshcorn, a bag of Co-Op 'Roast Dinner' flavoured crisps, some Haribo Strawbs (veggie), six mini Alpro chocolate soy milks and a Betty Crocker Devils Food Cake cake mix! Luke was a little dubious when I asked for the latter but I'm so excited to try it with a can of diet Coke.

LIFESTYLE
I received a few cool gadgets from Luke this year! I've never been able to get internet signal in my bedroom so he got me a WiFi Booster and omg it's amazing. I can literally tweet / blog from my bed and it's just the best thing. He also got me a new memory stick to store blog photos on! Bless him. Following along the same lines, my Nan got me a copy of Pokémon Moon! I've already logged 5 hours on there and I've completed the first trial. I can't play it anymore today until Luke gets home from work because we're playing it together! I chose Popplio for my Starter, if you're wondering.

The synthetic wool & pompom makers are from my Mum and I'm so excited to use them. A few weeks ago I started making pompoms with a piece of cardboard I'd cut into circles and it was so tedious because they'd break after two poms. She got me a set of four pompom makers in various sizes and some wool which I picked out in Poundworld. My mum also got me a little crochet Dobby (!!) who is now sitting safely on top of my Harry Potter book collection.

I received a book from Luke and a book from my Dad - both non-fiction. Dad got me Bloom by Estee Lalonde which I'm excited to read and Luke got me Reasons To Stay Alive by Matt Haig which has been on my wishlist forever. Luke also got me the adorable little Leafeon plushie, a Kirito Pop! Vinyl and a sparkly succulent because he's just an absolute babe.

Finally in terms of lifestyle bits, my Dad got me a beautiful silver chain that I spotted a while ago in the Topshop sale (he went back and bought it without me knowing!), an acrylic makeup storage unit from B&M which I'm using to store stationery and a set of unicorn slipper socks.

STATIONERY
And finally, my stationery bits. My 'big' present from Mum was a Kikki.K 365 journal which is incredibly beautiful - I'm planning on starting it on my 22nd birthday. She also got me a few ringbinders, an accordion file and a set of paper wallets from a gorgeous collection in Wilkos. The two little notebooks at the front are also from my Mum (via Wilkos). One of them is blank and the other is an adorable mini organiser that has sections for planning your days, packing lists, pros & cons lists and notes.

Aaaand that's a wrap! Or unwrap, rather. (Sorry - I'll see myself out.) I am so overwhelmed by the wonderful things people got me and I've had the nicest day nesting in my bedroom and putting everything away. I also decluttered again to make room for the lovely new things - would you like to see a post on my decluttering tips? It's become a real habit of mine over the past few weeks!

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