Secret Santa 2022

I just did one Secret Santa in 2022. In the past I've done more, but I wanted to cut it down to just one. I always really like The Broke and The Bookish's swap, so I signed up to send two books and some goodies to someone, and receive the same back. I got Jo as the person I was sending to, and I bought two books off her wishlist and then was careful to choose other things that I thought she would like. I bought a gonk decoration when we went to Chatsworth Christmas market, and I bought the plain chocolate that she liked, Aero and Galaxy. I sent the parcel about ten days before Christmas. Jo was really active on the #TBTBSanta hashtag, and I have followed her on Twitter for years, so I was looking forward to her opening and appreciating the presents.

Sadly, on the 19th of December her brother told us on her twitter account that she had died of pneumonia. Certainly, she had been ill with a bad cold - but surely it had been just a bad cold?? Until it wasn't, I suppose. I can't tell you how much Jo will be missed in book twitter. She worked at Foyles in Charing Cross and talked all the time about fab LGBTQIA books that were coming out. I can't tell you how many books I ordered just because Jo talked about them! I am truly saddened by her death and I was really sad that she wouldn't get to open and appreciate her presents. 

However, I received a really lovely parcel from Sharon! Sharon actually sent my gifts for the same swap a few years ago, and as then she did brilliantly! These were well thought out and personalised presents and for that I'm really grateful. I got three books off my wishlist, two of which I had totally forgotten about and one of which is the prettiest book of cross stitches. I got chocolate and a hot chocolate packet, and pens, and a brilliant wax melt kit! I am always burning wax melts so it'll be nice to make my own! I was thoroughly spoilt, thank you so much Sharon! 

The second photo is of the books I got for Christmas including the two novels I got from Sharon. The others were all from my in laws - Lee's brother bought me the Janice Hallett book and Lee's sister bought me the two M A Bennett books. I can't wait to get to them! 

My 2018 Secret Santas

I joined in two Secret Santas in 2018, down from previous years because I'd found it really stressful in 2017, and because I had a bad experience with a swap in the middle of 2018 when I was told that what I'd sent in a random swap wasn't acceptable. That made me really sad because it was a package that I would have been happy to receive, and I had put thought and effort into it. So I decided to just do a couple of swaps. One was Janet's Thrifty Christmas swap which I've done for years now and which requires you to be a bit thrifty with gifts, and one was through a Facebook group and it required a couple of gifts and also a letter.

I got back some lovely presents and wasn't disappointed at all! I also got a thank you card from the person I sent to for Janet's swap, which was so lovely of the recipient and really brightened me up.

Here's what I got:

Firstly these gifts were from the Facebook group swap. The little vial has rose quartz crystals in it, which I love. I also really like the cloud sticky notes! I use sticky notes a lot.

Secondly these gifts were from my friend Cath, to say thank you for the Star Wars cross stitch I did for her partner, so they're not a Secret Santa but I was taking photos of the same time. I've stuck the stickers into my bullet journal (yeah I'm one of THOSE people, although mine is a mish mash of stuff) and I absolutely LOVE the Welsh love spoon. I've never had one before, so I love this especially as it was a gift from a friend. I'm going to put it on the wall. 

Thirdly these gifts were all from Janet's thrifty swap, the sender did so well! I haven't heard of the book Jake + Lily, but it sounds really adorable and I'm looking forward to reading it. The bullet journal notebook is really practical, I will definitely get to use it in 2019. The face masks and foot masks are great, I will definitely get use of these. I put the pen in my handbag!

Thank you so much, Santas!

2017's Secret Santas

I did three Secret Santas at Christmas, which is fewer than normal but I just wasn't feeling Christmas last year. Usually I'm really up for it and love getting gifts ready for people and wrapping them up all fancy. But, I didn't feel the same. I think making Lee's blanket meant all my energy was focussed on that, and it left very little room for anything else. Poor Lee ended up doing most of the wrapping and sorting things out for Christmas, which I'm really grateful for.

But, I did sort out these Secret Santas and I had fun doing them, so I'm not sorry I signed up for them. I hope that the gifts I sent were well received in return!

First of all was this parcel from someone through Emma's blog, it came from Ireland but I'm not too sure of the sender. It was book based, so The Princess and the Suffragette was off my wishlist. I LOVED A Little Princess when I was little so I'm really excited to read this sequel. I also got a notebook, some tapes, a face mask, some chocolate, some moisturisers, and a little purse, all of which are things I like and have already put to use! The hair clip on the top left will look lovely on a special occasion, too, I'm sure! Thank you for my gifts, if you're reading this! 

Secondly, I got this parcel through Janet's thrifty gift swap, which long time readers might remember from previous years. Everything in this swap is supposed to be second hand or handmade or thrifty, which makes it a lot of fun to put together. This parcel came from Hope and I was so spoilt! There are three books, ones which all look intriguing and which are all, I think, second hand. There's a mug with a cat on it, which is my favourite kind of mug! The box underneath the mug has Christmas stamps and tapes in, which will be so useful next year. There are scented candles shaped like reindeer, and a handmade card and more tapes. And then the green thing is my favourite thing, it's a handmade quilled Christmas tree, and it was made by prisoners at a women's prison sold to make money for them. I absolutely love it, and it's great that the money for it went to such a worthy cause. Thank you so much for this whole parcel!

A few Christmas presents

I took all these photos on Christmas Day of three of my favourite presents. I got lots of lovely things, I was very lucky.

Lee bought me this Pusheen cover for my phone, I love it

He also bought me this, isn't it funny?

This was one of the Secret Santas I did, I really like it. 

This was another Secret Santa, I especially love the straws

These are all the books I got. The Robert Galbraith ones were from my aunt and family. The one about afternoon tea was from my grandma. The Ann Cleeves one was from my friend Laura, the one for bookworms was from my friend Sarah. The others were Secret Santas - None of the Above, Only Ever Yours, and The Manifesto on How to be Interesting were from one Santa, and Boy Meets Boy and Playing with Matches were from another. I'm excited to read ALLLLL these books!

I think this was a crafty Secret Santa. The crochet hook says "I'm a happy hooker" on it, lol

And this one I do know the identity of the sender - it was a crafty swap from Louisa! I can't wait to make the chocolate brownies. 

If you're the sender of one of my swaps, please let me know so I can thank you properly!

Secret Santas #2 and #3

I know, it's ages after Christmas, but my living space has been in such a mess that I wasn't able to get to these boxes to photograph until now. But I thought I would still post them as I am really grateful for the gifts, and because I'd like the senders to see that if they happen to read my blog! (First SS is here)

Both these boxes were filled with such wonder, I loved them. They were both thrifty swaps.

This one had a fun looking book, Santa and Mrs Claus socks, funky paperclips, chocolate, a stamp set, sunflower seeds for my garden, and HOMEMADE strawberry and rhubarb jam! Gosh, homemade jam is amazing 

This one had a gorgeously patterned notebook, a crime novel by an author I haven't read before, handmade chocolate orange spoons, and this very cute handpainted mug with my initial on it :) I love the green colour! 

Secret Santa Post #2

As I said the other day, I joined two Secret Santa swaps this Christmas. This was my second one, the swap was organised by Ingrid from See the Colts. Ingrid is a penpal of mine and one of the sweetest people I know.

My Santa was Christina. I love Terry's Chocolate Orange and this was the only ones I got! I also got a very cute notecard set and pen (very useful for penpalling) and two adorable washi tapes. 

Secret Santa Post #1

I love Christmas so much and always like to join in Secret Santa swaps. This year I did two and thought I'd share photos.

This swap was organise by Janet from Words That Can Only Be Your Own, hers is a blog that I've read for years and I love it. She's got a really stylish blog and her taste in music and books is very close to mine. I was lucky enough that she was my Santa. I got some lovely presents!

I got: a little book of Yorkshire Christmas, a teacup candle, a book called The Song of Achilles that Janet says is one of her favourites, a Books Are My Bag bag, an R with a map of Barnsley on it, a pencil, and some mulled wine spices. 

This is all so perfect for me! I must make some teacup candles myself one time, I love book recommendations, and I love things with my initial on. I always need more tote bags as I carry too much stuff around, and mulled wine is definitely my thing! Janet couldn't have chosen better :)