Christmas Presents

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The real point of Christmas is the amazing times you share with friends and family, and I am so grateful I had so many wonderful times which I have already documented in detail. But… the presents aren’t half bad either! My friends and I are quite big on presents but this year my parents and I exchanged gifts as well, which was unexpected but really nice. I’ve felt incredibly grateful integrating these new and lovely items into my life so I hope it doesn’t seem vulgar of me to share them.
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Gifts From Friends

Cute twine, a half-head cat mask (I’ll have to share photos of the completed mask!), adorable notebooks and the biggest most beautiful book of Peanuts comics I’ve ever seen. My pals know me well. This is actually just a selection of the gifts my wonderful friends gave me: other gifts included an emoji cushion, a beautiful blue and red dress, afternoon tea, Prosecco, an adopted zebra (!!!), a Peanuts coffee pot, beer pong and tickets to a show. Pretty perfectly Laila. <3

The chocolates are actually from my students; I also received a chocolate Santa, perfume and tickets to a play from some of my other pupils. It sounds cheesy as teaching is it’s own reward, but it’s also a job that requires a lot of extra work around the edges when you’re not technically “at work”. It’s certainly not expected, and so I always feel so much gratitude to the pupils who give cards and presents to acknowledge this at the end of the year.
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Gifts From Parents – Sailor Moon

It was only a few weeks ago that I mentioned my deep and unfaltering love for Sailor Moon. This year my Mum came through with the absolute motherlode of Sailor Moon goodies! We’re not big on presents in my family so to receive so many things which were all so perfectly suited to me was wonderful. Above you can see the Sailor Moon accessory set (mirror, bag and hair tie), earrings, locket necklace and cleaning cloth – SO perfect for glasses wearers like me. My Dad gave me a new camera lens which is perfect for close-up images such as the ones in this post…!

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These socks are from my Mum and they are super comfy! My Auntie gave me this beautiful gold scarf and the glittery golden bow is from a cousin. I wear something in my hair every day and the gold bow was/is perfect over the festive season. I also received a giftcard from my Auntie which I’ve yet to spend – I’m terrible at remembering to use up gift vouchers so I’ll need to remind myself.

So there we go! I feel so incredibly lucky to have been given so many lovely things! What did you get for Christmas this year?

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Merry Christmas!

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I wrapped up work this morning and spent the rest of the day with James sorting presents. I’ll be in Brighton and Isle Of Wight over the next week, but right now I’m at my parents house. The smell of spiced orange bread and iced sugar cookies coupled with the twinkly decorations everywhere certainly put me in the festive mood!

Their house is a weird mish-mash of objects and furnishings; certainly not pinterest-worthy but it’s good to have some mess sometimes! It made me smile when I got back to my parents and saw the familiar weird decorations on the tree; the tasselled cylinders are actually wine bottle corks pasted with festive ribbon and yarn. My mum made them with her friends the first year she was in the UK and couldn’t afford decorations of her own. My housemates and I decorated our house with foil, printed stars, homemade wreaths and upcycled bottle tops this year  – matching baubles isn’t a luxury any of us could quite afford either. :)

Sending all my warmest blogging wishes to all of you, have a wonderful christmas day. X